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THE 



WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 










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Copyright N .. 



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3obnson Series of English Classics. 

GOLDSMITH'S VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. Edited by 
Prof. O. C. Edwards. 

BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION. Edited by Dr. 
James M. Garnett. 

TENNYSON'S PRINCESS. Edited by Dr. C. W. Kent. 

MACAULAY'S ESSAYS ON MILTON AND ADDISON. 
Edited by Dr. C. Alphonso Smith. 

POPE'S HOMER'S ILIAD. Edited by Professors F. E. 
Shoup and Isaac Ball. 

COLERIDGE'S ANCIENT MARINER. Edited by Prof. 
Norman H. Pitman. 

SHAKESPEARE;S MACBETH. Edited by Dr. J. B. 
Henneman. 

MILTON'S L'ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO, COMUS, and 
LYCIDAS. Edited by Prof. Benjamin Sledd. 

ADDISON'S SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS. 
Edited by Prof. Lancelot M. Harris. 

SHAKESPEARE'S MERCHANT OF VENICE. Edited by 
Dr. Robert Sharp. 

COOPER'S LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Edited by 
Prof. Edwin Mims. 

GEORGE ELIOT'S SILAS MARNER. Edited by Prof. 
W. L. Weber. 

Others to be Announced. 




WILLIAM SlIAKESPEAKE. 



THE 

MERCHANT OF 

VENICE 

By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 



EDITED BY 

ROBERT SHARP, M. A., Ph. D. 

Professor of English in Tulane 
University 



B. F. Johnson Publishing Company 

ATLANTA RICHMOND DALLAS 



LIBRARY ^ CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

FEB 12 1904 

K Copyright Entry 

CLASS * XXc. No. 

Z i i+ 
COPY 8 






COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY 

ROBERT SHARP 






INTRODUCTION. 



Biographical Sketch. 

THE contemporaries and immediate successors of 
Shakespeare have left us but few and brief 
notices of unquestioned value from which to construct 
an account of his life. The loving and untiring labors 
of a series of eminent scholars have collected these and 
whatever other authentic references were to be found 
in records of any kind that bear upon the poet or his 
family and affairs. These, together with certain rea- 
sonable deductions and probable traditions, constitute 
the biography of the great poet as we have it to-day. 

*John Shakespeare, the poet's father, was the son of 
Richard Shakespeare, a respectable farmer of Snitter- 
field, near Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire. About 
1 55 1, John Shakespeare settled in Stratford, and car- 



*The works that have been principally drawn upon for the 
outline here given are: Sidney Lee's Life of William Shake- 
speare; Dowden's Shakespeare Primer; the larger Temple 
Shakespeare, Vol. 12; Elze's Life of Shakespeare; Baynes' 
article on Shakespeare in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth 
edition. Other well known biographical works have also been 
of assistance. 



8 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

ried on a prosperous business in meat, skins, leather, 
wool, and perhaps other farm products. He became 
a man of importance, and filled in succession many 
offices of trust and honor in the town, from ale-taster, 
in 1557, to head bailiff, his highest dignity, in 1568, 
and chief alderman in 1571. In the meantime he had 
become a landowner, having purchased property in 
Henley street and in Greenhill street. Before 1575 he 
had bought a second house in Henley street, adjoining 
the first. It is this second house, the one to the west, 
that is supposed to have been the poet's birthplace. 

In 1557 he was married to Mary Arden, daughter 
of a prosperous farmer of Wilmecote, near Stratford. 
The Ardens were of good family, and the mother of 
the poet inherited a considerable property from her 
father. 

It is interesting to note that, while John Shake- 
speare was bailiff, two companies of actors, the 
Queen's and the Earl of Worcester's, visited Stratford. 

About 1577-78 John Shakespeare fell into financial 
difficulties, which seem to have gone from bad to 
worse, until he had lost his wife's property and his 
official dignities. He was sued in 1585-86 for debt, 
and it was found that he had no property that might 
be levied upon. It remained for .the poet to restore 
the family to prosperity. 

The parish register of the Church of the Holy Trin- 
ity, in Stratford, contains the entry of the baptism of. 
William Shakespeare on April 26, 1564. The tradi- 
tion is that he was born April 22 or 23. The latter 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

date is generally given as his birthday, but without 
any positive evidence. He was the third of eight chil- 
dren, of whom four besides himself— three brothers 
and one sister— lived to maturity. William and his 
brothers, we may assume, attended the free grammar 
school of the town. The instruction was principally 
in the Latin language and literature. Shakespeare 
gives evidence of good proficiency in his Latin studies, 
as far as Virgil and Ovid, at least. Whether such 
knowledge as he shows of things Greek was obtained 
in any part from the original source or only through 
translation, it seems impossible to determine with cer- 
tainty; but the latter theory seems the more likely. 
At some time, almost certainly after he went to Lon- 
don, he acquired a sufficient knowledge of French to 
read it and use it with facility in his plays ; and there 
is at least a probability that he read Italian. When 
all has been said, his education in books was but 
meagre. 

It is generally accepted by his biographers that he 
was taken from school when he was about thirteen or 
fourteen years of age, in consequence of his father's 
financial embarrassments. It is not known how he 
was employed from this time to his departure to 
London. We may assume that he was put to work. 
There is a tradition that he was apprenticed to a 
butcher, and a conjecture that he was placed in an 
attorney's office; many guesses have been made, but 
we have no certain knowledge of his occunation dur- 
ing this interval. 



io THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

Towards the close of the year 1582, when Shake- 
speare was not yet nineteen years of age, he was mar- 
ried to Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his 
senior. She was the daughter of a ''substantial yeo- 
man/' as Rowe says, of the neighboring village of 
Shottery. Three children, Susanna, Hamnet, and 
Judith, the last two twins, resulted from this mar- 
riage. Hamnet died in his twelfth year, but the daugh- 
ters lived to womanhood. Susanna was married in 
1607 to Dr. John Hall. Their daughter, Elizabeth, 
though twice married, died childless. Judith was 
married in the year 1616 to Thomas Ouiney. Their 
three sons died without offspring; and with the death 
of his grandchildren, the immediate line of the poet 
became extinct. 

The well known tradition of Shakespeare's deer- 
stealing escapade is assigned to the year 1585, and his 
consequent prosecution by Sir Thomas Liicy has been 
supposed to have been the immediate cause of his hur- 
ried departure from Stratford. Whether or not the story 
is true has never been determined ; but the best authori- 
ties find it at least not improbable. If we are inclined 
to accept the incident as true, we should take into con- 
sideration the presumption that there must have been 
palliating circumstances, such as youthful reckless- 
ness ; for Shakespeare seems in no way to have suffered 
in the esteem of his contemporaries in consequence. 

The same uncertainty besets us as to Shakespeare's 
occupation immediately after his arrival in London, 
about the end of 1585 or the beginning of 1586. The 



INTRODUCTION. n 

often repeated stories of his holding horses at the 
theatre doors, and of his having been employed as 
call-boy, or prompter's attendant, though not improb- 
able, have no positive proof. He must surely have 
had some employment that gave him familiarity with 
the presentation of plays. In 1594 he was an actor in 
the Lord Chamberlain's Company of Players, which 
became, in 1603, the King's Players. He seems to 
have been associated throughout with this company, 
and it was by this company that his plays were first 
brought out. "Only two of the plays claimed for him, 
Titus Andronicus and 3 Henry VI, seem to have been 
performed by other companies" (Lee). 

Shakespeare achieved success in his financial affairs 
as well as in reputation as a poet and writer of plays. 
He seems certainly to have visited Stratford in 1596, 
and to have relieved his father of the embarrassment 
of his debts. In 1597 he purchased New Place, the 
finest residence in Stratford, but did not occupy it 
himself until 161 1, when he returned to Stratford and 
made his home there. He acquired also other prop- 
erty in his native place. In 1599 he became a share- 
holder in the receipts of the Globe Theatre, realizing 
large profits from this source. From 1610 on, he 
shared in the profits of the Blackfriars Theatre, his 
income from the latter, however, being much smaller 
than from the former. In 1599 a coat of arms was 
granted to John Shakespeare, probably in consequence 
of the poet's influence and efforts. 

Though direct external evidence is wanting, it seems 



12 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

fairly certain that Shakespeare's first efforts as a writer 
of plays were directed to recasting and improving old 
plays for presentation by his company. The three 
parts of Henry VI are supposed to have been prepared 
in this way. He continued to use at times for his sub- 
sequent dramas material of this kind when it seemed 
suitable for his purpose. Otherwise, he appropriated 
plots wherever he found such as offered the desired 
dramatic opportunity. But in nearly every instance 
he so transformed the material that he took in hand 
as to make it truly his own. In some of the plays, 
however, ascribed to his earlier period, many and con- 
siderable traces of the older crudities remain, enough 
in Titus Andronicus (acted in 1593-94) to make it a 
question whether or not the play should be included 
among the accepted works of the master. 

It is assumed, and apparently with good reason, 
that Shakespeare in a number of instances had col- 
laborators in the construction of plays that go under 
his name. Of this class may be mentioned Henry 
VIII, Timofi of Athens, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 
It is generally conceded that considerable portions of 
the last named play cannot have been by the hand of 
Shakespeare, and, indeed, it was not "included in 
Shakespeare's collected works till 1664" (Lee). Very 
considerable portions of The Two Nolle Kinsmen have 
been ascribed by eminent critics to Shakespeare, John 
Fletcher being supposed to have been his collaborator 
(as also in Henry VIII), and possibly Philip Mas- 
senger. It is, of course, not included among the 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

recognized works of Shakespeare. A number of other 
plays, mainly of inferior merit, have at times been 
ascribed to him. 

It is unnecessary to give here a complete list of the 
accepted plays with such dates and details of publica- 
tion and presentation as have been collected from 
external and internal evidence. The lists given by 
Furnivall, Dowden, Lee, and others do not differ radi- 
cally. It may be noted, however, that within the 
limits of what is certainly known of the order of the 
production of the plays, the distinct marks of the de- 
velopment and ripening of his art are discernible. We 
may observe his growing emancipation from conven- 
tionality in versification, his increasing disregard of 
the prevailing conceits and tricks of expression, and a 
progressive maturing of his style. But more im- 
portant still is the deepening insight into the manifold 
types of humanity, from the highest to the lowest; 
into their joys and their sorrows, their virtues and 
their vices, their failures and their successes. He 
treats them all in his series of historical plays, ro- 
mances, comedies, and tragedies, which, in the range 
and grasp of inventive power, surely stands without a 
rival. 

The period of his activity as a writer of plays was 
comparatively short. Having begun in 1590 or 1591, 
by 161 1 or 1612 it had been completed, his last known 
works having been A Winter's Tale, The Tempest, and 
his portion of Henry VIII. He now retired to Strat- 
ford, to spend the rest of his life, according to Rowe's 



i 4 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

well known phrase, "in ease, retirement, and the con- 
versation of his friends." 

In 1593 Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis, which he 
called the first heir of his invention, had been pub- 
lished, and the year afterwards his Lucrece. Both 
poems were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton. 
Both were extremely well received, and the reputation 
thus gained may have been very helpful to their author 
in his early dramatic essays. 

A collection of 154 sonnets by Shakespeare was 
published in 1609, presumably without the consent of 
the author. A part of them must be classed with the 
greatest poetry ; others suffer from conceits and arti- 
ficiality, the besetting dangers of the Elizabethan son- 
nets. Apart from their value as poetry, the sonnets 
are of very great interest on account of the real or 
imagined light they throw upon the life and character 
of the poet. A small portion (two sonnets) of a col- 
lection called The Passionate Pilgrim, published with- 
out permission under Shakespeare's name, in 1599, 
and some obscure stanzas in another collection called 
The Phoenix and the Turtle, published in 1601, com- 
plete the list of poems not dramatic ascribed with any 
good reason to Shakespeare. He died at his home, 
New Place, in Stratford, April 23, 161 6. 

The Sources oe the Plot. 

In Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, we find blended 
two principal stories, the story of the Pound of Flesh 
and the story of the Caskets. With these is inter- 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

woven as a minor thread the story of Lorenzo and 
Jessica, and the episode of the Rings is added. None 
of these is original with Shakespeare, and there seems 
no donbt that at least the first two had been combined 
in a play "before he made use of them. 

The sources and history of the play are given and 
fully discussed in Furness's Variorum edition. The 
following points may be noted here. 

The story of the Pound of Flesh has been discovered 
in many different places, and in documents of many 
different dates. Its first appearance in English, as 
Miss L. Toulmin Smith has shown in a paper read 
before the New Shakspere Society, in 1875, was in the 
Cursor Muncli, and dates from the end of the thirteenth 
century. Here a Jew demands of a Christian gold- 
smith in the service of the Empress Helena a portion 
of his flesh, which has been pledged for a debt. The 
Christian is saved by the quibble that no blood is 
mentioned in the bond. Furness cites as the next 
appearance of the story a Latin MS. (Harl. 7322) 
written in England. In this version, a man seeks to 
exact from his younger brother a portion of the flesh 
of his body, which has been pledged as security for a 
debt, but has now become forfeited ; but he is thwarted 
in the same manner as above. Simrock (see Variorum, 
pp. 308, 309) has discovered the outline of the story in 
the Mcistergesang of Kaiser Karls Recht, printed in 
Germany, in 1493. In this instance, the Emperor 
Charles is the judge. There are also oriental versions, 
the plaintiff being a Jew and the defendant now a 



16 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

Mussulman, now a Christian. In these, the Jew loses 
his case from not being able to cut the exact weight, 
no more and no less. Analogies to the story are to be 
found even in the literature of India. These refer- 
ences show that the story is a very ancient one ; but 
these versions were without any immediate influence 
upon Shakespeare's work. 

Editors of Shakespeare have very generally agreed 
that the sources from which the poet drew are to be 
found among those* following : 

A ballad of Gernutus, a Jew, who demanded a pound 
of flesh of a Christian merchant as the forfeited secur- 
ity for a debt. He fails in his suit on account of his 
having failed to provide for the shedding of blood. 
The poem contains no allusion to the love story, nor 
to the disguised female advocate. The ballad may be 
found in Percy's Reliques. The critics are not all 
agreed that it was published before our play. If 
Shakespeare owed anything to this crude production, 
as is very unlikely, it must have been very little indeed. 

A version of the incident of the pound of flesh 
resembling the play far more closely than those al- 
ready mentioned was found by Collier in an Italian 
book, II Pecorone, by Giovanni Fiorentino, dating 
from 1378, but first published in T565. It may have 
been translated into English soon afterwards, along 
with many other Italian works that were being turned 
into English at that time. But no English copy of 
this period has been found ; and Shakespeare, on the 
very probable assumption that he knew the work, may 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

have read it in Italian. In this story the pound of 
flesh is pledged to a Jew by Ansaldo, a merchant of 
Venice, as security for ten thousand ducats borrowed 
to equip his godson, Giannetto, for a final attempt in 
his adventurous suit for the hand of the Lady of Bel- 
monte. Giannetto is successful, and in his new wealth 
and happiness forgets Ansaldo and his danger. When 
the bond falls due, the merchant sends for his godson, 
who hurries to him, provided by his wife with the 
means of paying the debt ten times over. He is too 
late, however; and the Jew is obdurate, refusing to 
accept "as much gold as Venice was worth" in place 
of the penalty. The wife of Giannetto now appears, 
disguised as a young lawyer from Bologna, and de- 
feats the Jew by noting the point that the bond does 
not allow the shedding of any blood, nor the cutting 
of more or less than an exact pound of flesh, and that 
the slightest deviation from the letter of the law would 
mean the death of the Jew. Ansaldo is saved, and the 
Jew loses even his principal, Giannetto has not recog- 
nized his wife, so complete is her disguise, and she 
begs a ring of him which she has before given him. 
The husband parts with the ring very reluctantly, and 
the complications that follow at Belmonte are not 
unlike those in Shakespeare's play. The incident 
closes with the marriage of Ansaldo to the attendant 
of Giannetto's wife. The similarity to Shakespeare's 
plot is obvious. 

Silvayn's Orator, a collection of "declamations" 
translated from the French, and published in 1596, 



18 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

contains the argument of a Jew "who would for his 
debt have a pound of the flesh of a Christian," and the 
Christian's answer. One may find in it suggestions of 
the trial scene. 

The story of the Caskets is very old, and of doubtful 
origin. It was obviously intended primarily to illus- 
trate the folly of judging by external appearances, and 
may have originated independently in different places. 
It appears in various forms in: Gesta Romanorum 
(compiled toward the end of the thirteenth century, 
and translated from the Latin and published in several 
editions between 1510 and 1601) ; Gower's Confessio 
Amantis; Barlaam and Josaphat, the original form of 
the story, according to Warton (History of English 
Poetry), in Greek, by Joannes Damascenus, of about 
800, A. D. ; Chronicle of Lanercost, of about 1346 ; Boc- 
caccio's Decameron. The list might be prolonged, but 
it is ample to show the wide extent of the story. In 
some of these versions the choice has to be made 
among caskets ; in some, among chests ; and again 
even among pasties. Sometimes the choice is be- 
tween two objects ; sometimes among three ; some- 
times among four; sometimes all are alike, and again 
all are different. Only in the one from the Gesta 
Romanorum is the resemblance to Shakespeare's ver- 
sion close. In this instance, there are three caskets — 
one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead — with in- 
scriptions, two of which, at least, correspond closely 
to those in the play. The casket of gold contains 
dead men's bones ; that of silver, earth and worms ; 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

that of lead, precious stones. It seems certain that 
Shakespeare made use of this material, either at first 
or at second hand. 

The Lorenzo and Jessica incident may have been 
original with Shakespeare, though it has been sug- 
gested that its prototype may exist in a tale by Mas- 
succio di Salerno, who lived in the latter part of the 
fifteenth century. No translation of it, however, is 
known to have existed before the appearance of the 
play. It is more likely that it was suggested by Mar- 
lowe's Jew of Malta, as will be noted below. 

There seems little or no doubt that the Bond story 
and the Casket story had been combined in a play 
before Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice was written ; 
and this old play, though it is no longer extant, is 
believed by many of the best authorities to have been, 
most probably, the immediate source from which 
Shakespeare drew. In 1579 Gosson, in his School of 
Abuse, referred to a play called The Jew, as repre- 
senting "the greediness of worldly choosers, and 
bloody minds of usurers." It seems reasonable to 
refer this to the Casket and Bond stories. After Shake- 
speare had produced his play, the older and inferior 
work was eclipsed, and disappeared. 

In the consideration of the sources of the Merchant 
of Venice, Marlowe's Jew of Malta is to be taken seri- 
ously into account. This play, written in 1589 or 
1590, with its inhuman monster of a Jew and his 
unfilial daughter, inferior as it is to Shakespeare's, is 
not without a certain similarity to the latter work, 



20 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

and probably furnished suggestions for it, notably for 
the robbing of the miserly father by the daughter. 
For further comparison and discussion of this point, 
see appendix to Furness's Variorum edition of this 
play. 

In Henslowe's Diary, under the date, August 25, 
1594, The Vehesyon Comodey is mentioned, and is 
spoken of as a new play. Some editors have thought 
that the play referred to was Shakespeare's Merchant 
of Venice, basing their opinion upon certain evidences 
of the author's early manner to be found in the play. 
It has been noted, however, that the reference might 
as well be to any other play with its scene in Venice. 
One theory is that Henslowe was speaking of an 
earlier draft of The Merchant of Venice, by Shake- 
speare ; and that a trace of it may be found in the 
reference to "four strangers," I, ii, 135, the reading 
of the older version having been retained by oversight. 

In 1594, Dr. Roderigo Lopez, an eminent Jewish 
physician, was executed in London for treasonable 
communication with the King of Spain, and for plan- 
ning the assassination of the Queen and of a Portu- 
guese refugee, Antonio Perez. In his trial, prejudice 
on account of his race and religion was reinforced by 
a malignant court intrigue ; and he became, in conse- 
quence, the object of the bitter detestation of the 
people. The picturesque figure of the Jew and the 
dramatic situation were at once seized as material by 
the playwrights, and as Lee ("The Original Shylock," 
Gentleman's Magazine, February, < 1880, cited in the 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

Variorum) shows from entries in Henslowe's Diary, 
"The Jew formed the subject of no less than twenty 
representations between May, 1594, and the end of the 
year." It is not unlikely, though it has not been 
demonstrated, that Shakespeare, too, was impressed 
by the incident, with which he was necessarily familiar, 
and that his play owes something in the way of sug- 
gestion and characterization to this source. 

■ Date of Composition and Publication. 

The Merchant of Venice was entered in the register 
of the Stationers' Company, July 22, 1598, with the 
condition added that it should not be published until 
the Lord Chamberlain should give his consent. It 
was entered by James Roberts as "A Booke of the 
Merchaunt of Venyce or otherwise called the Jewe 
of Venice." The play was not printed, however, until 
1600, in which year two editions appeared. The title- 
page of the first of these, the first quarto, reads : 

"The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. 
With the Extreme cruelty of Shylocke the Jew to- 
wards the saide Merchant, in cutting a just pound of 
his flesh. And the obtaining of Portia, by the choyse 
of three Caskets. Written by W. Shakespeare. 
Printed by J. Roberts, 1600." 

The title-page of the other edition, the second 
quarto, differs little from that of the first, except that 
it was "Printed by I. R. for Thomas Heyes, 1600." A 
third quarto edition, a reprint of the second, appeared 
in 1637, and a fourth in 1652. Of these editions, the 



22 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

first is the best. The text of the folio of 1623 is a 
reprint of the second quarto, with a few changes. 
Modern editions are based principally upon the first, 
or Roberts quarto, improved at some points by com- 
parison with the second quarto and the first folio. 

It is not possible to fix the exact date of the com- 
position of the play. We find direct external evidence 
of only one fact in our attempt to determine it, and 
that is that it was completed not later than 1598. As 
we have seen, it was entered in the Stationers' Register 
in that year, and it was mentioned in the same year 
by Francis Meres, in his Palladis Tamia, or Wit's 
Treasury, which was an attempt at a comparison of the 
literature of the time with that of the ancients. Some 
have placed the date of the composition of the play as 
early as 1594, supposing the Venesyon Comedy men- 
tioned by Henslowe in that year to have been our 
Merchant of Venice. The probability, however, rest- 
ing upon evidence, which need not be gone into here, 
is that it was produced in 1596, or, possibly, 1597. 
Halliwell, Furnivall, Dowden, Fleay, Gollancz, and 
others prefer the former date. 

Note on Versification. 

Only a few words in regard to the verse-form in The 
Merchant of Venice seem to be required here. Some 
of the more difficult points are treated in the notes as 
they occur; others are left for discussion and ex- 
planation in the classroom. 

The blank verse used by Shakespeare in his plays is 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

strikingly free and flexible, as it should be in order to 
adapt it to the different types of people that must use 
it in the expression of their varying thoughts and 
emotions. This quality of flexibility becomes more 
apparent with the development of the poet's art. The 
verse of The Merchant of Venice belongs to the period 
when Shakespeare had been writing plays for some 
years, about seven or eight, and chows development 
from his earliest method in various ways ; among 
others, in a larger proportion of run-over lines, that 
is, of verses in which the end of the line does not co- 
incide with a pause in the sense ; in fewer riming coup- 
lets, and in a finer display of rhythm-waves or flowing 
periods, sometimes at the cost of mere metrical regu- 
larity. 

Too much stress should not be laid upon a reduc- 
tion of the lines to exact metrical divisions or scansion 
in the old sense. It is the verse rather than the foot 
as a unit that produces the most satisfactory rhythmic 
effect, the real purpose of the verse-form. The verse 
will generally take care of itself, if it is allowed to; 
that is, if it is read naturally. Above all, let us avoid 
the common heresy of reading verse as nearly as if it 
were prose as is possible. It seems very certain that 
Shakespeare would not have made the sharp distinc- 
tion between prose and verse in writing his plays, if 
he had not intended that it should be made in reading 
them. 

When the metrical test is applied with exactness, it 
will be found that a very great proportion of the lines 



24 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

will show variations from the normal type of five 
iambic feet. Trochees are common ; and often we 
must either recognize the three-syllable type — and 
there is no objection to that — or we. may so slur the 
syllables in pronunciation that the effect is practically 
that of the two-syllable feet. However, it gives much 
more satisfactory results to admit great freedom of 
substitution for the iambus in examining the structure 
of the verses. : 

Sometimes it will be found that a syllable is wanting 
from the regular number. This occurs most fre- 
quently where a natural pause will fall, which compen- 
sates in effect for the lacking syllable. At other times 
the deficiency is not real, the apparent irregularity 
being removed if we realize that in Elizabethan verse 
certain combinations of letters may be pronounced 
now as one syllable, now as two ; as, for instance, .the 
terminations -ion and -ean in such words as com- 
plexion and ocean, or in such words as fair and prayer, 
our and power, this effect being due to the presence of 
the liquid. Short lines are not to be regarded as imper- 
fections, but as serving a purpose, either contributing 
emphasis, or giving vivacity to the rapid dialogue. 
Similarly, verses with one or two extra unaccented 
syllables after the last iambus are frequent. The Alex- 
andrine, or iambic six-foot line, is to be accepted, too, 
as a fact, though it is not possible, perhaps, to ascribe 
it to any specific intention. But it is certain that no 
violence should be done in forcing a six-foot line into 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

a five-foot measure. Examples of the Alexandrine 
are: 

"Because you are not sad. Now by two-headed Janus." — 

If if 50- 

"To find the other forth ; and by adventuring." — I, i, 144. 
"I will assume desert. Give me a key for this." — II, ix, 51. 
"What many men desire ! that many may be meant." — 
II, ix, 25. 

In these examples, the strong csesural pause about 
the middle of the line is to be noted. The inscriptions 
on the caskets are Alexandrines, probably because the 
stately movement of the measure seemed suited to the 
oracular import. When a verse is divided between 
two speakers, it not infrequently happens that each 
part contains three feet. 

The question of the duration of the action will be 
considered in the notes. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 

The Duke of Venice. 

The Prince of Morocco, 

„,, „ suitors to Portia. 

The Prince of Arragon, 

Antonio, a merchant of Venice. 

Bassanio, his friend, suitor likeivise to Portia. 

Salanio, 

Salaeino, 

„ > friends to Antonio and Bassanio. 

Gratiano, 

SAEERIO, 

Lorenzo, in love with Jessica. 

Shyeock, a rich Jew. 

Tubal, a Jew, Ms friend. 

Launcelot Gobbo, the cloivn, servant to Shylock. 

Oed Gobbo, father to Launcelot. 

Leonardo, servant to Bassanio. 

Balthasae, ) 

V servants to Portia. 
Stephano, ) 

Portia, a rich heiress. 

Nerissa, her ivaiting-maid. 

JESSICA, daughter to Shylock. 

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, Gaoler, 
Servants to Portia, and other attendants. 

Scene : Partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the seat of 
Portia, on the Continent. 



The Merchant of Venice. 

ACT FIRST. 

Scene I. 

Venice. A street. 

Enter Antonio, Salarino, and Salanio. 

Ant. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad : 
It wearies me ; you say it wearies you ; 
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, 
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, 
I am to learn ; 5 

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, 
That I have much ado to know myself. 

Salar. Your mind is tossing on the ocean ; 

There, where your argosies with portly sail, 

Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, 10 

Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea, 

Do overpeer the petty traffickers, 

That curt'sy to them, do them reverence, 

As they fly by them with their woven wings. 

Salan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth, 15 

The better part of my affections would 
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still 
Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind ; 
Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads ; 



28 SHAKESPEARE. 

And every object, that might make me fear 20 

Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt 
Would make me sad. 

Salar. My wind, cooling my broth, 

Would blow me to an ague, when I thought 
What harm a wind too great at sea might do. 
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, 25 

But I should think of shallows and of flats, 
And see my wealthy Andrew dpck'd in sand 
Vailing her high top lower than her ribs 
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church 
And see the holy edifice of stone, 30 

And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, 
Which touching but my gentle vessel's side 
Would scatter all her spices on the stream, 
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ; 
And, in a word, but even now worth this, 35 

And now worth nothing? Shall I have the 

thought 
To think on this ; and shall I lack the thought, 
That such a thing bechanced would make me 

sad? 
But tell not me ; I know, Antonio 
Is sad to think upon his merchandise. 40 

Ant. Believe me, no : I thank my fortune for it, 
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, 
Nor to one place ; nor is my whole estate 
Upon the fortune of this present year : 
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad. 45 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 29 

Salar. Why, then you are in love. 

Ant Fie, fie! 

Salar. Not in love neither ? Then let us say you are 

sad, 
Because you are not merry : and 'twere as easy 
For you to laugh, and leap, and say you are 

merry, 
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed 50 

Janus, 
Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time : 
Some that will evermore peep through their 

eyes, 
And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper ; 
And other of such vinegar aspect, 
That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile, 55 
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable. 

Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano. 
Salan. PTere comes Bassanio, your most noble kins- 
man, 
Gratiano, and Lorenzo. Fare ye well : 
We leave you now with better company. 
Salar. I would have stay'd till I had made you merry, 60 

T f worthier friends had not prevented me. 
Ant. Your worth is very dear in my regard. 
I take it, your own business calls on you, 
And you embrace the occasion to depart. 
Salar. Good morrow, my good lords. 65 

Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? 
say, when? 



30 SHAKESPEARE. 

You grow exceeding strange; must it be so? 

Salar. We'll make our leisures to attend on yours. 

[Exeunt Salarino and Salanio. 

Lor. My Lord Bassanio, since you have found An- 
tonio, 
We two will leave you : but, at dinner-time, 70 
I pray you, have in mind where we must meet. 

Bass. I will not fail you. 

Gra. You look not well, Signior Antonio; 

You have too much respect upon the world : 
They lose it that do buy it with much care : 75 

Believe me, you are marvellously changed. 

Ant. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano ; 
A stage, where every man must play a part, 
And mine a sad one. 

Gra. Let me play the fool : 

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come ; 80 
And let my liver rather heat with wine 
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. 
Why should a man, whose blood is warm 

within, 
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster? 
Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaun- 85 

dice 
By being peevish ? I tell thee what, Antonio — 
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks, — ■ 
There are a sort of men, whose visages 
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond ; 
And do a wilful stillness entertain, 90 

With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 31 

Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit; 

As who should say, 'I am Sir Oracle, 

And, when I ope my lips, let no. dog bark!' 

my Antonio, I do know of these, 95 
That therefore only 'are reputed wise 

For saying nothing ; when, I am very sure, 

If they should speak, would almost damn those 

ears, 
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers 

fools. 
I'll tell thee more of this another time : 100 

But fish not, with this melancholy bait, 
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. 
Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile : 
I'll end my exhortation after dinner. 
Lor. Well, we will leave you, then, till dinner-time : 105 

1 must be one of these same dumb wise men, 
For Gratiano never lets me speak. 

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years moe, 
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own 
tongue. 
Ant. Farewell : I'll grow a talker for this gear. no 

Gra. Thanks, i' faith ; for silence is only commend- 
able 
In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not 
vendible. 

[Exeunt Gratiano and Lorenzo. 

Ant. Is that any thing, now? 

Bass. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, 



32 SHAKESPEARE. 

more than any man in all Venice. His reasons 115 
are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels 
of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find 
them : and when you have them, they are not 
worth the search. 

Ant. Well, tell me now, what lady is the same 120 

To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage, 
That you to-day promised to tell me of? 

Bass. Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, 
How much I have disabled mine estate, 
By something showing a more swelling port 125 
Than my faint means would grant continuance : 
Nor do I now make moan to be abridged 
From such a noble rate; but my chief care 
Is to come fairly off from the great debts, 
Wherein my time, something too prodigal, 130 

Hath left me gaged. To you, Antonio, 
I owe the most, in money and in love ; 
And from your love I have a warranty 
To unburthen all my plots and purposes 
How to get clear of all the debts I owe. 135 

Ant. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it ; 
And if it stand, as you yourself still do, 
Within the eye of honour, be assured, 
My purse, my person, my extremest means, 
Lie all unlock'd to your occasions. 140 

Bass. In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft, 
I shot his fellow of the self-same flight 
The self-same way with more advised watch, 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 33 

To find the other forth; and by adventuring 

both, 
I oft found both: I urge this childhood proof, 145 
Because what follows is pure innocence. 
I owe you much ; and, like a wilful youth, 
That which I owe is lost : but if you please 
To shoot another arrow that self way 
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, 150 
As I will watch the aim, or to find both, 
Or bring your latter hazard back again, 
And thankfully rest debtor for the first. 

Ant. You know me well ; and herein spend but time 

To wind about my love with circumstance; 155 

And out of doubt you do me now more wrong 

In making question of my uttermost, 

Than if you had made waste of all I have : 

Then do but say to me what I should do, 

That in your knowledge may by me be done, 160 

And I am prest unto it ; therefore, speak. 

Bass. In Belmont is a lady richly left; 

And she is fair, and, fairer than that word, 
Of wondrous virtues : sometimes from her eyes 
I did receive fair speechless messages. 165 

Her name is Portia ; nothing undervalued 
To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia: 
Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth ; 
For the four winds blow in from every coast 
Renowned suitors: and her sunny locks 170 

Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ; 
3 



34 SHAKESPEARE. 

Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' 

strand, 
And many Jasons come in quest of her. 

my Antonio had I but the means 

To hold a rival place with one of them, 175 

1 have a mind presages me such thrift, 
That I should questionless be fortunate ! 

Ant. Thou-know'st that all my fortunes are at sea; 
Neither have I money, nor commodity 
To raise a present sum : therefore go forth ; 180 

Try what my credit can in Venice do : 
That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost, 
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia. 
Go, presently inquire, and so will I, 
Where money is; and I no question make, 185 
To have it of my trust, or for my sake. 

[Exeunt. 
Scene II. 
Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 
Enter Portia and Nerissa. 
Por. By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary 

of this great world. 
Ner. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries 
were in the same abundance as your good for- 
tunes are: and yet, for aught I see, they are as 5 
sick that surfeit with too much, as they that 
starve with nothing. It is no mean happiness, 
therefore, to be seated in the mean: superfluity 
comes sooner by white hairs ; but competency 
lives longer. i:o 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 35 

For. Good sentences, and well pronounced. 

Ner. They would be better, if well followed. 

For. If to do were as easy as to know what were 
good to do, chapels had been churches, and 
poor men's cottages princes' palaces. It is a 15 
good divine that follows his own instructions : 
I can easier teach twenty what were good to be 
done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine 
own teaching The brain may devise laws for 
the blood ; but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold 20 
decree : such a hare is madness the youth, to 
skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the crip- 
ple. But this reasoning is not in the fashion to 
choose me a husband. O me, the word 'choose' ! 
I may neither choose whom I would, nor refuse 25 
whom I dislike ; so is the will of a living daugh- 
ter curbed by the will of a dead father. Is it 
not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, nor 
refuse none? 

Ner. Your father was ever virtuous ; and holy men, 30 
at their death, have good inspirations: 
therefore the lottery, that he hath devised in 
these three chests of gold, silver and lead, — 
whereof who chooses his meaning chooses 
you, — will, no doubt, never be chosen by any 35 
rightly but one who shall rightly love. But 
what warmth is there in your affection towards 
any of these princely suitors that are already 
come? 

Por. I pray thee, over-name them; and as thou 40 



36 SHAKESPEARE. 

namest them, I will describe them ; and, accord- 
ing to my description, level at my affection. 

Ner. First, there is the Neapolitan prince. 

Por. Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but 

talk of his horse ; and he makes it a great appro- 45 
priation to his own good parts, that he can 
shoe him himself. I am much afeard my lady, 
his mother, played false with a smith. 

Ner. Then there is the County Palatine. 

Por. He doth nothing but frown ; as who should 50 
say, 'If you will not have me, choose :' he hears 
merry tales, and smiles not: I fear he will 
prove the weeping philosopher when he grows 
old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in his 
youth. I had rather be married to a death's- 55 
head with a bone in his mouth than to either of 
these. God defend me from these two ! 

Ner. How say you by the French lord, Monsieur 
Le Bon? 

Por. God made him, and therefore let him pass for 60 
a man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a 
mocker: but, he! — why, he hath a horse better 
than the Neapolitan's ; a better bad habit of 
frowning than the Count Palatine: he is every 
man in no man; if a throstle sing, he falls 65 
straight a capering : he will fence with his own 
shadow : if I should marry him, I should marry 
twenty husbands. If he would despise me, I 
would forgive him ; for if he love me to mad- 
ness. I shall never requite him. 70 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 37 

Ner. What say yon, then, to Falconbridge, the 
young baron of England? 

Par. Yon know I say nothing to him ; for he under- 
stands not me, nor I him : he hath neither Latin, 
French, nor Italian; and you will come into the 75 
court and swear that I have a poor pennyworth 
in the English. He is a proper man's picture ; 
but, alas, who can converse with a dumb-show? 
How oddly he is suited ! I think he bought his 
doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his 80 
bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour every 
where. 

Ner. What think you of the Scottish lord, his neigh- 
bour ? 

Por. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him ; for 85 
he borrowed a box of the ear of the English- 
man, and swore he would pay him again when 
he was able : I think the Frenchman became his 
surety, and sealed under for another. 

Ner. How like you the young German, the Duke 90 
of Saxony's nephew? 

Por. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober; 
and most vilely in the afternoon, when he is 
drunk : when he is best, he is a little worse than 
a man ; and when he is worst, he is little better 95 
than a beast: an the worst fall that ever fell, 
I hope I shall make shift to go without him. 

Ner, If he should offer to choose, and choose the 
right casket, you should refuse to perform your 
father's will, if you should refuse to accept him. 100 



38 SHAKESPEARE. 

Por. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, set 
a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary 
casket; for, if the devil be within and that 
temptation without, I know he will choose it. 
I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I'll be mar- 105 
ried to a sponge. 

Ner. You need not fear, lady, the having any of 
these lords : they have acquainted me with their 
determinations ; which is, indeed, to return to 
their home, and to trouble you with no more no 
suit, unless you may be won by some other sort 
than your father's imposition, depending on the 
caskets. 

Por. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as 

chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the 115 
manner of my father's will. I am glad this par- 
cel of wooers are so reasonable ; for there is not 
one among them but I dote on his very ab- 
sence; and I pray God grant them a fair de- 
parture. 120' 

Ner. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's 
time, a Venetian, a scholar, and a soldier, that 
came hither in company of the Marquis of 
Montferrat? 

Por. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio; as I think, he was so 125 
called. 

Ner. True, madam : he, of all the men that ever my 
foolish eyes looked upon, was the best deserv- 
ing a fair lady. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 39 

Por. I remember him well; and I remember him 130 
worthy of thy praise. 

Enter a Serving-man. 
How now! what news? 

Serv. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to 
take their leave : and there is a forerunner come 
from a fifth, the Prince of Morocco ; who brings 135 
word, the prince, his master, will be here to- 
night. 

For. If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good 
a heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I 
should be glad of his approach : if he have the 140 
condition of a saint and the complexion of a 
devil, I had rather he should shrive me than 
wive me 

Come Nerissa. Sirrah, go before. 
Whiles we shut the gates upon one wooer, an- 145 
other knocks at the door. Exeunt. 

Scene III. 

Venice. A public place. 

Enter Bassanio and Sliylock. 

Shy. Three thousand ducats ; well. 

Bass. Ay, sir, for three months. 

Shy. For three months ; well. 

Bass. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be 

bound. 5 

Shy. Antonio shall become bound ; well. 



40 SHAKESPEARE. 

Bass. May you stead me? will you pleasure me? 

shall I know your answer? 
Shy. Three thousand ducats for three months, and 

Antonio bound. 10 

Bass. Your answer to that. 
Shy. Antonio is a good man. 

Bass. Have you heard any imputation to the con- 
trary ? 
Shy. Ho, no, no, no, no: my meaning, in saying 15 
he is a good man, is to have you understand me, 
that he is sufficient. Yet his means are in sup- 
position : he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, 
another to the Indies ; I understand, moreover, 
upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a 20 
fourth for England, and other ventures he hath, 
squandered abroad. But ships are but boards, 
sailors but men : there be land-rats and water- 
rats, water-thieves and land-thieves, I mean 
pirates ; and then there is the peril of waters, 25 
winds, and rocks. The man is, notwithstand- 
ing, sufficient. Three thousand ducats ; I think 
I may take his bond. 
Bass. Be assured you may. 

Shy. I will be assured I may; and, that I may be 30 
assured, I will bethink me. May I speak with 
Antonio ? 
Bass. If it please you to dine with us. 
Shy. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation 

which' your prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the 35 
devil into. I will buy with you, sell with you, 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 41 

talk with you, walk with you, and so following; 
but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor 
pray with you. What news on the Rialto? 
Who is he comes here? 4° 

Enter Antonio. 

Bass. This is Signior Antonio. 

Shy. [Aside] How like a fawning publican he looks ! 
I hate him for he is a Christian ; 
But more for that in low simplicity 
He lends out money gratis and brings down 45 
The rate of usance here with us in Venice. 
If I can catch him once upon the hip, 
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 
He hates our sacred nation ; and he rails, 
Even there where merchants most do congre- 50 

gate, 
On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift, 
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe, 
If I forgive him ! 

Bass. Shylock, do you hear? 

Shy. I am debating of my present store ; 

And, by the near guess of my memory, 55 

I cannot instantly raise up the gross 

Of full three thousand ducats. What of that? 

Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, 

Will furnish me. But soft ! how many months 

Do you desire? [To Ant.] Rest you fair, 60 

good signior ; 
Your worship was the last man in our mouths. 

Ant. Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow, 



42 SHAKESPEARE. 

By taking nor by giving of excess, 

Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend, 

I'll break a custom. Is he yet possess'd 65 

How much ye would? 

Shy. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. 

Ant. And for three months. 

Shy. I had forgot; three months, you told me so. 
Well then, your bond ; and let me see ; but hear 

you; 
Methought you said you neither lend nor bor- 70 

row 
Upon advantage. 

Ant. I do never use it. 

Shy. When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep, — 
This Jacob from our holy Abram was. 
As his wise mother wrought in his behalf, 
The third possessor; ay, he was third, — 75 

Ant. And what of him? did he take interest? 

Shy. No, not take interest ; not, as you would say, 
Directly interest : mark what Jacob did 
When Laban and himself were compromised 
That all the eanlings which were streak'd and 80 

pied 
Should fall as Jacob's hire. 
This was a way to thrive, and he was blest : 
And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not. 

Ant. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for ; 

A thing not in his power to bring to pass, 85 

But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of 
heaven. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 43 

Was this inserted to make interest good? 

Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams ? 
Shy. I cannot tell ; I make it breed as fast : 

But note me, signior. 
Ant. Mark you this, Bassanio, 90 

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. 

An evil soul, producing holy witness, 

Is like a villain with a smiling cheek ; 

A goodly apple rotten at the heart : 

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath ! 95 

Shy. Three thousand ducats ; 'tis a good round sum. 

Three months from twelve ; then, let me see ; 
the rate — 
Ant. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you ? 
Shy. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft 

In the Rialto you have rated me 100 

About my moneys and my usances : 

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug ; 

For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. 

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat, dog, 

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, 105 

And all for use of that which is mine own. 

Well then, it now appears you need my help : 

Go to, then ; you come to me, and you say 

'Shylock, we would have moneys :' you say so ; 

You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, no 

And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur 

Over your threshold : moneys is your suit. 

What should I say to you ? Should I not say 

'Hath a dog money ? is it possible 



44 SHAKESPEARE. 

A cur can lend three thousand ducats ?' Or 115 

Shall I bend low and in a bondsman's key, 

With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 

Say this, — 

'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last ; 

You spnrn'd me such a day; another time 120 

You call'd me dog ; and for these courtesies 

I'll lend you thus much moneys' ? 

Ant. I am as like to call thee so again, 

To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too. 

If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not 125 

As to thy friends ; for when did friendship take 

A breed of barren metal of his friend ? 

But lend it rather to thine enemy ; 

Who if he break, thou mayest with better face 

Exact the penalty. 

Shy. Why, look you, how you storm ! 130 

I would be friends with you, and have your love, 
Forget the shames that you have stain'd me 

with, 
Supply your present wants, and take no doit 
Of usance for my moneys, and you'll not hear 

me: 
This is kind I offer. 135 

Bass. This were kindness. 

Shy. This kindness will I show. 

Go with me to a notary, seal me there 
Your single bond ; and, in a merry sport, 
If you repay me not on such a day, 
In such a place, such sum or sums as are 140 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 45 

Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit 
Be nominated for an equal pound 
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken 
In what part of your body pleaseth me. 

Ant. Content, i' faith : I'll seal to such a bond, 145 

And say there is much kindness in the Jew. 

Bass. You shall not seal to such a bond for me : 
I'll rather dwell in my necessity. 

Ant. Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it: 

Within these two months, that's a month before 150 

This bond expires, I do expect return 

Of thrice three times the value of this bond. 

Shy. O father Abram, what these Christians are, 
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect 
The thoughts of others ! Pray you, tell me this ; 155 
If he should break his day, what should I gain 
By the exaction of the forfeiture? 
A pound of man's flesh taken from a man 
Is not so estimable, profitable neither, 
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say, 160 
To buy his favour, I extend this friendship : 
If he will take it, so ; if not, adieu ; 
And for my love, I pray you wrong me not. 

Ant. Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond. 

Shy. Then meet me forthwith at the notary's ; 165 

Give him direction for this merry bond ; 
And I will go and purse the ducats straight ; 
See to my house, left in the fearful guard 
Of an unthrifty knave ; and presently 
I will be with you. 170 



46 SHAKESPEARE. 

Ant. Hie thee, gentle Jew. [Exit STiylock. 

The Hebrew will turn Christian : he grows kind. 
Bass. I like not fair terms and a villain's mind. 
Ant. Come on : in this there can be no dismay ; 

My ships come home a month before the day. 

[Exeunt, 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 47 



ACT SECOND. 

Scene I. 

Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Morocco and his 
train; Portia, Nerissa, and -.others attending. 

Mor. Mislike me not for my complexion, 

The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun, 

To whom I am a neighbour and near bred. 

Bring me the fairest creature northward born, 

Where Phoebus' fire scarce thaws the icicles, 5 

And let us make incision for your love, 

To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine. 

I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine 

Hath fear'd the valiant : by my love, I swear 

The best-regarded virgins of our clime 10 

Have loved it too : I would not change this hue, 

Except to steal your thoughts, my gentle queen. 

Par. In terms of choice I am not solely led 
By nice direction of a maiden's eyes ; 
Besides, the lottery of my destiny 15 

Bars me the right of voluntary choosing : 
But if my father had not scanted me 
And hedged me by his wit, to yield myself 
His wife who wins me by that means I told you, 
Yourself, renowned prince then stood as fair 20 



48 SHAKESPEARE. 

As any comer I have look'd on yet 
For my affection. 

Mor. Even for that I thank you : 

Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the caskets, 
To try my fortune. By this scimitar 
That slew the Sophy, and a Persian prince 25 

That won three fields of Sultan Solyman, 
I would outstare the sternest eyes that look, 
Outbrave the heart most daring on the earth, 
Pluck the young* sucking cubs from the she- 
bear, 
Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey, 30 

To win thee, lady. But, alas the while ! 
If Hercules and Lichas play at dice 
Which is the better man, the greater throw 
May turn by fortune from the weaker hand : 
So is Alcides beaten by his page; 35 

And so may I, blind fortune leading me, 
Miss that which one unworthier may attain, 
And die with grieving. 

Por. You must take your chance, 

And either not attempt to choose at all, 
Or swear before you choose, if you choose 40 

wrong, 
Never to speak to lady afterward 
In way of marriage : therefore be advised. 

Mor. Nor will not. Come, bring me unto my 
chance. 

Por. First, forward to the temple : after dinner 
Your hazard shall be made. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 49 

Mor. Good fortune then ! 45 

To make me blest or cursed'st among men. 

[Cornets, and exeunt. 

Scene II. 
Venice. A street. 
Enter Launcelot. 
Laun. Certainly my conscience will serve me 
to run from this Jew my master. The 
fiend is at mine elbow, and tempts me, 
saying to me. 'Gobbo, Launcelot Gobbo. 
good Launcelot,' or 'good Launcelot Gobbo, 5 
use your legs, take the start, run away.' My 
conscience says, 'No ; take heed, honest 
Launcelot; take heed, honest Gobbo', or, 
as aforesaid, 'honest Launcelot Gobbo ; 
do not run ; scorn running with thy 10 
heels.' Well, the most courageous fiend bids 
me pack : 'Via !' says the fiend ; 'away !' says the 
fiend; 'for the heavens, rouse up a brave 
mind/ says the fiend, and 'run.' Well, my 
conscience, hanging about the neck of my 15 
heart, says very wisely to me, 'My honest 
friend Launcelot, being an honest man's son,' — 
or rather an honest woman's son ; — for, indeed, 
my father did something smack, something 
grow to, he had a kind of taste ; — well, my con- 20 
science says, 'Launcelot, budge not.' 'Budge,' 
says the fiend. 'Budge not,' says my con- 
science. 'Conscience,' say I, 'you counsel 
4 



50 SHAKESPEARE. 

well :' 'Fiend,' say I, 'you counsel well.' 
To be ruled by my conscience, I should 25 
stay with the Jew my master, who, God bless 
the mark, is a kind of devil ; and, to run away 
from the Jew, I should be ruled by the fiend, 
who, saving your reverence, is the devil himself. 
Certainly the Jew is the very devil incarnal ; and, 30 
in my conscience, my conscience is but a kind of 
hard conscience, to offer to counsel me to stay 
with the Jew. The fiend gives the more friendly 
counsel : I will run, fiend ; my heels are at your 
command ; I will run. 35 

Enter Old Gobbo, with a basket. 

Gob. Master young man, you, I pray you, which is 
the way to master Jew's? 

Laun. [Aside^\ O heavens, this is my true-begotten 
father ! who, being more than sand-blind, high- 
gravel blind, knows me not: I will try confu- 40 
sions with him. 

Gob. Master young gentleman, I pray you, which is 
the way to master Jew's? 

Laun. Turn up on your right hand at the next turn- 
ing, but, at the next turning of all, on your left ; 45 
marry, at the very next turning, turn of no hand, 
but turn down indirectly to the Jew's house. 

Gob. By God's sondes, 'twill be a hard way to hit 
Can you tell me whether one Launcelot, that 
dwells with him, dwell with him or no? 5° 

Laun, Talk you of young Master Launcelot? 
[Aside^ Mark me now; now will I raise the 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 51 

waters. Talk you of young Master Launce- 
lot? 

Gob. No master, sir, but a poor man's son; his 55 
father, though I say it, is an honest, exceed- 
ing poor man, and, God be thanked, well to 
live. 

Laun. Well, let his father be what a' will, we talk 

of young Master Launcelot. 60 

Gob. Your worship's friend, and Launcelot, sir. 

Laun. But I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo, I be- 
seech you, talk you of young Master Launcelot? 

Gob. Of Launcelot, an't please your master- 
ship. 65 

Laun, Ergo, Master Launcelot. Talk not of Master 
Launcelot, father ; for the young gentleman, ac- 
cording to Fates and Destinies and such odd 
sayings, the Sisters Three and such branches of 
learning, is indeed deceased; or, as you would 70 
say in plain terms, gone to heaven. 

Gob. Marry, God forbid ! the boy was the very staff 
of my age, my very prop. 

Laun. Do I look like a cudgel or a hovel-post, a staff 

or a prop? Do you know me, father? 75 

Gob. Alack the day, I know you not, young gentle- 
man: but, I pray you, tell me, is my boy, God 
rest his soul, alive or dead? 

Laun. Do you not know me, father? 

Gob. Alack, sir, I am sand-blind; I know you not. 80 

Laun. Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might 
fail of the knowing me : it is a wise father that 



52 SHAKESPEARE. 

knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell 
you news of your son : give me your blessing : 
truth will come to light ; murder cannot be hid 85 
long ; a man's son may ; but, at the length, truth 
will out. 

Gob. Pray you, sir, stand up : I am sure you are not 
Launcelot, my boy. 

Laun. Pray you, let's have no more fooling about 90 
it, but give me your blessing: I am Launcelot, 
your boy that was, your son that is, your child 
that shall be. 

Gob. I cannot think you are my son. 

Laun. I know not what I shall think of that : but I 95 
am Launcelot, the Jew's man ; and I am sure 
Margery your wife is my mother. 

Gob. Her name is Margery, indeed : I'll be sworn, if 
thou be Launcelot, thou art mine own flesh and 
blood. Lord worshipped might he be! what 100 
a beard hast thou got ! thou hast got more hair 
on thy chin than Dobbin my fill-horse has on 
his tail. 

Laun. It should seem, then, that Dobbin's tail grows 

backward : I am sure he had more hair of his 105 
tail than I have of my face when I last saw him. 

Gob. Lord, how art thou changed ! How dost thou 
and thy master agree? - I have brought him a 
present. How 'gree you now? 

Laun. Well, well: but, for mine own part, as I have no 
set up my rest to run away, so I will not rest 
till I have run some .ground. My master's a 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 53 

very Jew: give him a present! give him a hal- 
ter : I am famished in his service ; you may tell 
every finger I have with my ribs. Father, I am 115 
glad you are come : give me your present to 
one Master Bassanio, who, indeed, gives rare 
new liveries : if I serve not him, I will run as far 
as God has any ground. O rare fortune ! here 
comes the man : to him, father; for I am a Jew, 120 
if I serve the Jew any longer. 
Enter Bassanio, with Leonardo and other followers. 

Bass. You may do so; but let it be so hasted, that 
supper be ready at the farthest by five of the 
clock. See these letters delivered; put the 
liveries to making; and desire Gratiano to come 125 
anon to my lodging. [Exit a Servant. 

Laun. To him, father. 

Gob. God bless your worship ! 

Bass. Gramercy! wouldst thou aught with me? 

Gob. Here's my son, sir, a poor boy, — 130 

Laun. Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew's man ; 
that would, sir, — as my father shall spe- 
cify, — 

Gob. He hath a great infection, sir, as one would 

say, to serve — . 135 

Laun. Indeed, the short and the long is, I serve the 
Jew, and have a desire, — as my father shall 
specify, — 

Gob. His master and he, saving your worship's rev- 
erence, are scarce cater-cousins, — 140 

Laun. To be brief, the very truth is that the Jew, 



54 SHAKESPEARE. 

having done me wrong, doth cause me, — as my 
father, being, I hope, an old man, shall frutify 
unto you, — 

Gob. I have here a dish of doves that I would be- 145 
stow upon your worship, and my suit is, — 

Laun. In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself, 
as your worship shall know by this honest old 
man ; and, though I say it, though old man, yet 
poor man, my father. 150 

Bass. One speak for both. What would you ? 

Laun. Serve you, sir. 

Gob. That is the very defect of the matter, sir. 

Bass. I know thee well ; thou hast obtain'd thy suit : 

Shylock thy master spoke with me this day, 155 
And hath preferr'd thee, if it be preferment 
To leave a rich Jew's service, to become 
The follower of so poor a gentleman. 

Laun. The old proverb is very well parted between 

my master Shylock and you, sir : you have the 160 
grace of God, sir, and he hath enough. 

Buss. Thou speak'st it well. Go, father, with thy 
son. 
Take leave of thy old master and inquire 
My lodging out. Give him a livery 
More guarded than his fellows': see it done. 165 

Laun. Father, in. I cannot get a service, no; I 
have ne'er a tongue in my head. Well, if any 
man in Italy have a fairer table which doth offer 
to swear upon a book, I shall liave good fortune. 
Go to, here's a simple line of life: here's a small 170 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 55 

trifle of wives : alas, fifteen wives is nothing ! 
eleven widows and nine maids is a simple com- 
ing-in for one man : and then to 'scape drowning 
thrice, and to be in peril of my life with the edge 
of a feather-bed ; here are simple 'scapes. Well, 175 
if Fortune be a woman, she's a good wench for 
this gear. Father, come ; I'll take my leave of 
the Jew in the twinkling of an eye. 

[Exeunt Launcelot and Old Gobbo. 

Bass. I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this : 

These things being bought and orderly bestow'd, 180 

Return in haste, for I do feast to-night 

My best-esteem'd acquaintance : hie thee, go. 

Leon. My best endeavours shall be done herein. 
Enter Gratiano. 

Gra. Where is your master? 

Leon. Yonder, sir, he walks. [Exit. 

Gra. Signior Bassanio, — 185 

Bass. Gratiano ! 

Gra, I have a suit to you. 

Bass. You have obtain'd it. 

Gra, You must not deny me : I must go with you 
to Belmont. 

Bass. Why, then you must. But hear thee, Gra- 
tiano : 190 
Thou art too wild, too rude, and bold of voice ; 
Parts that become thee happily enough, 
And in such eyes as ours appear not faults ; 
But where thou art not known, why there they 
show 



56 SHAKESPEARE. 

Something too liberal. Pray thee, take pain 195 
To allay with some cold drops of modesty 
Thy skipping spirit ; lest, through thy wild be- 
haviour, 
I be misconstrued in the place I go to, 
And lose my hopes. 

Gra. Signior Bassanio, hear me : 

If I do not put on a sober habit, 200 

Talk with respect, and swear but now and then, 
Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look de- 
murely ; 
Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine 

eyes 
Thus with my hat, and sigh, and say 'amen ;' 
Use all the observance of civility, 205 

Like one well studied in a sad ostent 
To please his grandam, never trust me more. 

Bass. Well, we shall see your bearing. 

Gra, Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gauge 
me 
By what we do to-night. 

Bass. No, that were pity: 210 

I would entreat you rather to put on 
Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends 
That purpose merriment. But fare you well : 
I have some business. 

Gra. And I must to Lorenzo and the rest: 215 

But we will visit you at supper-time. [Exeunt. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 57 

Scene III. 

The same. A room in Shylock's house. 

Enter Jessica and Launcelot. 

Jes. I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so : 
Our house is hell ; and thou, a merry devil, 
Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness. 
But fare thee well ; there is a ducat for thee : 
And, Launcelot, soon at supper shalt thou see 5 
Lorenzo, who is thy new master's guest : 
Give him this letter ; do it secretly ; 
And so farewell : I would not have my father 
See me in talk with thee. 

Laun. Adieu ! tears exhibit my tongue. Most beau- 10 
tiful pagan, most sweet Jew, adieu : these fool- 
ish drops do something drown my manly spirit : 
adieu. 

Jes. Farewell, good Launcelot. [Exit Launcelot. 

Alack, what heinous sin is it in me 15 

To be ashamed to be my father's child ! 
But though I am a daughter to his blood, 
I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo, 
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife, 
Become a Christian, and thy loving wife. [Exit. 



58 SHAKESPEARE. 

Scene IV. 

The same. A street. 
Enter Gratiano, Lorenzo, Salarino, and Salanio. 

Lor. Nay, we will slink away in supper-time, 

Disguise us at my lodging, and return 

All in an hour. 
Gra. We have not made good preparation. 
8 alar. We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers. 5 

Salan. 'Tis vile, unless it may be quaintly order'd, 

And better in my mind not undertook. 
Lor. Tis now but four o'clock : we have two hours 

To furnish us. 

Enter Launcelot with a letter. 

Friend Launcelot, what's the news? 

Laun. An it shall please you to break up this, it 10 
shall seem to signify. 

Lor. I know the hand : in faith, 'tis a fair hand ; 
And whiter than the paper it writ on 
Is the fair hand that writ. 

Gra. Love-news, in faith, 

Laun. By your leave, sir. • 15 

Lor. Whither goest thou ? 

Laun. Marry, sir, to bid my old master the Jew to 
sup to-night with my new master the Chris- 
tian. 

Lor. Hold here, take this: tell gentle Jessica 20 

I will not fail her ; speak it privately. 
Go, gentlemen, [Exit Launcelot. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 59 

Will you prepare you for this masque to-night? 

I am provided of a torch-bearer. 
Solar. Ay, marry, I'll be gone about it straight. 25 

Salon. And so will I. 
Lor. Meet me and Gratiano 

At Gratiano's lodging some hour hence. 
Solar. Tis good we do so. [Exeunt Solar, and Salon. 
Grd, Was not that letter from fair Jessica? 
Lor. I must needs tell thee all. She hath directed 30 

How I shall take her from her father's house ; 

What gold and jewels she is furnish'd with ; 

What page's suit she hath in readiness. 

If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven, 

It will be for his gentle daughter's sake: 35 

And never dare misfortune cross her foot, 

Unless she do it under this excuse, 

That she is issue to a faithless Jew. 

Come, go with me ; peruse this as thou goest : 

Fair Jessica shall be my torch-bearer. [Exeunt. 40 

Scene V. 

The same. Before ShylocVs house. 

Enter Shylock and Launcelot. 

Shy. Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy 
judge, 
The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio : — 
What, Jessica ! — thou shalt not gormandise, 
As thou hast done with me : — What, Jessica ! — 



60 SHAKESPEARE. 

And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out; — 5 

Why, Jessica, I say ! 
Laun, Why, Jessica! 

Shy. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call. 
Laun. Your worship was wont to tell me that I 
could do nothing without bidding. 

Enter Jessica. 

Jes. Call you? what is your will? 10 

Shy. I am bid forth to supper, Jessica: 

There are my keys. But wherefore should I go ? 

I am not bid for love ; they flatter me : 

But yet I'll go in hate, to feed upon 

The prodigal Christian. Jessica, my girl, 15 

Look to my house. I am right loath to go : 

There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest, 

For I did dream of money-bags to-night. 

Laun. I beseech you, sir, go : my young master doth 

expect your reproach. 20 

Shy. So do I his. 

Laun. And they have conspired together. I will 
not say you shall see a masque; but if you do, 
then it was not for nothing that my nose fell 
a-bleeding on Black-Monday last at six o'clock 25 
i' the morning, falling out that year on Ash- 
Wednesday was four year, in the afternoon. 

Shy. What, are there masques ? Hear you me, Jes- 
sica: 
Lock up my doors; and when you hear the 
drum. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 61 

And the vile squealing of the wry-necked fife. 30 
Clamber not you up to the casements then, 
Nor thrust your head into the public street 
To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces ; 
But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements : 
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter 35 

My sober house. By Jacob's staff, I swear 
I have no mind of feasting forth to-night : 
But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah ; 
Say I will come. 
Laun. I will go before, sir. Mistress, look out at 40 
window, for all this ; 

There will come a Christian by, 
Will be worth a Jewess' eye. [Exit 

Shy. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha? 
Jes. His words were, 'Farewell, mistress;' nothing 

else. m 45 

Shy. The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder ; 
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day 
More than the wild-cat: drones hive not with 

me; 
Therefore I part with him ; and part with him 
To one that I would have him help to waste 50 
His borrow'd purse. Well, Jessica, go in : 
Perhaps I will return immediately : 
Do as I bid you ; shut doors after you : 
Fast bind, fast find, 

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind. [Exit. 55 
Jes. Farewell ; and if my fortune be not crost, 

I have a father, you a daughter, lost. [Exit 



62 SHAKESPEARE. 

Scene VI. 

The same. 

Enter Gratiano and Salarino, masqued. 

Gra. This is the pent-house under which Lorenzo 
Desired us to make stand. 

Salar. His hour is almost past. 

Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour, 
For lovers ever run before the clock. 

Salar. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly 5 

To seal love's bonds new-made, than they are 

wont 
To keep obliged faith unforfeited ! 

Gra. That ever holds : who riseth from a feast 
With that keen appetite that he sits down ? 
Where is the horse that doth untread again 10 

His tedious measures with the unbated fire 
That he did pace them first? All things that 

are, 
Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd. 
How like a younker or a prodigal 
The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, 15 

Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind! 
How like the prodigal doth she return, 
With over-weather'd ribs and ragged sails, 
Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the strumpet wind ! 

Salar. Here comes Lorenzo : more of this hereafter. 20 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 63 

Enter Lorenzo. 

Lor. Sweet friends, your patience for my long 

abode ; 
Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait : 
When you shall please to play the thieves for 

wives, 
I'll watch as long for you then. Approach ; 
Here dwells my father Jew. Ho! who's 

within ? 25 

Enter Jessica, above, in boy's clothes. 

Jes. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty, 
Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue. 

Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love. 

Jes. Lorenzo, certain ; and my love, indeed, 

For who love I so much? And now who 30 

knows 
But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours ? 

Lor. Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that thou 
art. 

Jes. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains. 
I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me, 
For I am much ashamed of my exchange: 35 

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see 
The pretty follies that themselves commit ; 
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush 
To see me thus transformed to a boy. 

Lor. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. 40 

Jes. What, must I hold a candle to my shames ? 



64 SHAKESPEARE. 

They in, themselves, good sooth, are too, too 
light. 

Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love ; 

And I should be obscured. 
Lor. So are you, sweet, 

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy. 45 

But come at once ; 

For the close night doth play the runaway, 

And we are stay'd for at Bassanio's feast. 
Jes. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself 

With some more ducats, and be with you 

straight 5° 

[Exit above. 
Gra. Now, by my hood, a Gentile, and no Jew. 
Lor. Beshrew me but I love her heartily ; 

For she is wise, if I can judge of her ; 

And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true ; 

And true she is; as she hath proved herself; 55. 

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true, 

Shall she be placed in my constant soul 

Enter Jessica, below. 
What, art thou come? On, gentlemen; away! 
Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. 

[Exit with Jessica and Salarino. 

Enter Antonio. 
Ant. Who's there? 60 

Gra. Signior Antonio ! 

Ant. Fie, fie, Gratiano ; where are all the rest? 
Tis nine o'clock : our friends all stay for you. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 65 

No masque to-night : the wind is come about ; 
Bassanio presently will go aboard : 65 

I have sent twenty out to seek for you. 
Gra. I am glad on 't : I desire no more delight 

Than to be under sail and gone to-night. [Exeunt. 

Scene VII. 

Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter Portia, with the Prince of 
Morocco, and their trains. 

Por. Go draw aside the curtains, and discover 
The several caskets to this noble prince. 
Now make your choice. 
Mor. The first, of gold, who this inscription bears, 

'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 5 

desire ;' 
The second, silver, which this promise carries, 
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he de- 
serves ;' 
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt, 
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he 

hath.' 
How shall I know if I do choose the right? 10 

Por. The one of them contains my picture, prince : 

If you choose that, then I am yours withal. 15 

Mor. Some god direct my judgment ! Let me see ; 
I will survey the inscriptions back again. 
What says this leaden casket? 15 

5 



66 SHAKESPEARE. 

'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he 

hath.' 
Must give, — for what? for lead? hazard for 

lead? 
This casket threatens. Men that hazard all 
Do it in hope of fair advantages : 
A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross ; 20 
I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead. 
What says the silver with her virgin hue ? 
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he de- 
serves.' 
As much as he deserves ! Pause there, Mo- 
rocco, 
And weigh thy value with an even hand : 25 

Jf thou be'st rated by thy estimation, 
Thou dost deserve enough ; and yet enough 
May not extend so far as to the lady : 
And yet to be afeared of my deserving 
Were but a weak disabling of myself. ( 30 

As much as I deserve ! Why, that's the lady : 
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes, 
In graces and in qualities of breeding ; 
But more than these, in love, I do deserve. 
What if I stray'd no further, but chose here? 35 
Let's see once more this saying graved in gold ; 
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 

desire.' 
Why, that's the lady ; all the world desires her ; 
From the four corners of the earth they come, 
To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint : 40 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 67 

The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds 
Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now 
For princes to come view fair Portia: 
The watery kingdom, whose ambitions head 
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar 45 

To stop the foreign spirits ; but they come, 
As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia. 
One of these three contains her heavenly pic- 
ture. 
Is 't like that lead contains her? Twere dam- 
nation 
To think so base a thought : it were too gross 50 
To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. 
Or shall I think in silver she's immured, 
Being ten times undervalued to tried gold? 
O sinful thought ! Never so rich a gem 
Was set in worse than gold. They have in 

England 55 

A coin that bears the figure of an angel 
Stamped in gold, but that's insculp'd upon ; 
But here an angel in a golden bed 
Lies all within. Deliver me the key: 
Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may ! 60 

Pur. There, take it, prince ; and if my form lie there, 

Then I am yours. [lie wnlocks the golden casket. 

Mor. O hell ! what have we here ? 

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye 
There is a written scroll ! I'll read the writing. 
[Beads'] All that glisters is not gold ; 65 

Often have you heard that told: 



68 SHAKESPEARE. 

Many a man his life hath sold 
But my outside to behold: 
Gilded tombs do worms infold. 
Had you been as wise as bold, 70 

Young in limbs, in judgment old, 
Your answer had not been inscroll'd : 
Fare you well ; your suit is cold. 
Cold, indeed ; and labour lost : 

Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost ! 75 

Portia, adieu. I have too grieved a heart 
To take a tedious leave : thus losers part. 

[Exit with his train. Flourish of cornets. 
Tor. A gentle riddance. Draw the curtains, go. 

Let all of his complexion choose me so. [Exeunt. 

Scene VIII. 

Venice. A street. 

Enter Salarino and Salanio. 

Solar. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail : 

With him is Gratiano gone along ; 

And in their ship I am sure Lorenzo is not. 
Salan. The villain Jew with outcries raised the 
Duke, 

Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship. 5 
Salar. He came too late, the ship was under sail : 

But there the Duke was given to understand 

That in a gondola were seen together 

Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica : 

Besides, Antonio certified the Duke 10 



• THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 69 

They were not with Bassanio in his ship. 

SaJar. I never heard a passion so confused, 
So strange, outrageous, and so variable, 
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets : 
'My daughter ! O my ducats ! O my daughter ! 1 5 
Fled with a Christian ! O my Christian ducats ! 
Justice ! the law ! my ducats, and my daughter ! 
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, 
Of double ducats, stolen from me by my daugh- 
ter! 
And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious 

stones, 20 

Stolen by my daughter ! Justice ! find the girl ! 
She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats ! 

Salar. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him, 

Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats. 

Salan. Let good Antonio look he keep his day, 25 

Or he shall pay for this. 

Salar. Marry, well remember'd. 

I reason'd with a Frenchman yesterday, 
Who told me, in the narrow seas that part 
The French and English, there miscarried 
A vessel of our country richly fraught : 30 

I thought upon Antonio when he told me ; 
And wish'd in silence that it were not his. 

Salan. You were best to tell Antonio what you hear ; 
Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him. 

Salar. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth. 35 

I saw Bassanio and Antonio part : 
Bassanio told him he would make some speed 



70 SHAKESPEARE. 

Of his return : he answer'd, 'Do not so ; 

Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, 

But stay the very riping of the time ; 40 

And for the Jew's bond which he hath of me, 

Let it not enter in your mind of love : 

Be merry ; and employ your chiefest thoughts 

To courtship, and such fair ostents of love 

As shall conveniently become you there :' 45 

And even there, his eye being big with tears, 

Turning his face, he puts his hand behind him, 

And with affection wondrous sensible 

He wrung Bassanio's hand ; and so they parted. 

Salan. I think he only loves the world for him. 50 

I pray thee, let us go and find him out, 
And quicken his embraced heaviness 
With some delight or other. 

Salar. Do we so. [Exeunt. 

Scene IX. 

Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 

Enter Nerissa and a Servitor. 

Ner. Quick, quick, I pray thee: draw the curtain 
straight : 
The Prince of Arragon hath ta'en his oath, 
And comes to his election presently. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Arragon, Portia, 

and their trains. 
Por. Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince: 

If you choose that wherein I am contain'd, 5 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 71 

Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized : 
But if you fail, without more speech, my lord, 
You must be gone from hence immediately.. 
Ar. I am enjoin'd by oath to observe three things: 

First, never to unfold to any one 10 

Which casket 'twas I chose ; next, if I fail 
Of the right casket, never in my life 
To woo a maid in way of marriage : 
Lastly, 

If I do fail in fortune of my choice 15 

Immediately to leave you and be gone. 
Tor. To these injunctions every one doth swear 
That comes to hazard for my worthless self. 
Ar. And so have I address'd me. Fortune now 

To my heart's hope! Gold; silver; and base 20 

lead. 
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he 

hath.' 
You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard. 
What says the golden chest ? ha ! let me see : 
Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 

desire.' 
What many men desire! that 'many' may be 25 

meant 
By the fool multitude, that choose by show, 
Not learning more than the fond eye doth 

teach ; 
Which pries not to the interior, but, like the 

martlet, 
Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 



72 SHAKESPEARE. 

Even in the force and road of casualty. 30 

I will not choose what many men desire, 
Because I will not jump with common spirits, 
And rank me with the barbarous multitudes. 
Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house ; 
Tell me once more what title thou dost bear : 35 
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he de- 
serves :' 
And well said too ; for who shall go about 
To cozen fortune, and be honourable 
Without the stamp of merit ? Let none presume 
To wear an undeserved dignity. 40 

O, that estates, degrees, and offices 
Were not derived corruptly, and that clear 

honour 
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer ! 
How many then should cover that stand bare ! 
How many be commanded that command ! 45 

How much low peasantry would then be glean'd 
From the true seed of honour! and how much 

honour 
Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times, 
To be new-varnish'd ! Well, but to my choice : 
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he de- 50 

serves.' 
I will assume desert. Give me a key for this, 
And instantly unlock my fortunes here. 

[He opens the silver casket. 
Por. [Aside] Too long a pause for that which you 
find there. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 73 

Ar. What's here ? the portrait of a blinking idiot, 

Presenting me a schedule! I will read it. 55 

How much unlike art thou to Portia ! 
How much unlike my hopes and my desefvings ! 
'Who chooseth me shall have as much as he 

deserves.' 
Did I deserve no more than a fool's head? 
Is that my prize ? are my deserts no better ? 60 

Por. To offend, and judge, are distinct offices, 

And of opposed natures. 
Ar. What is here? 

[Reads] The fire seven times tried this : 

Seven times tried that judgment is, 

That did never choose amiss. 65 

Some there be that shadows kiss-; 

Such have but a shadow's bliss : 

There be fools alive, I wis, 

Silver'd o'er ; and so was this. 

Take what wife you will to bed, 70 

I will ever be your head : 

So be gone : you are sped. 

Still more fool I shall appear 

By the time I linger here : 

With one fool's head I came to woo, 75 

But I go away with two. 

Sweet, adieu. I'll keep my oath, 

Patiently to bear my wroth. 

[Exeunt Arragon and train, 
Por. Thus hath the candle singed the moth. 



74 SHAKESPEARE. 

O, these deliberate fools ! when they do choose, 80 
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose. 

Ner. The ancient saying is no heresy, 

Hanging and wiving goes by destiny. 

Por. Come, draw the curtain, Nerissa. 

'Enter a Servant. 

Serv. Where is my lady ? 

Por. Here: what would my lord? 85 

Serv. Madam, there is alighted at your gate 
A young Venetian, one that comes before 
To signify the approaching of his lord ; 
From whom he bringeth sensible regreets, 
To wit, besides commends and courteous breath, 90 
Gifts of rich value. Yet I have not seen 
So likely an ambassador of love : 
A day in April never came so sweet, 
To show how costly summer was at hand, 
As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord. 95 

Por. No more, I pray thee: I am half afeard 
Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee, 
Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him. 
Come, come, Nerissa ; for I long to see 
Quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly. 100 

Ner. Bassanio, lord Love, if thy will it be! [Exeunt. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 75 

ACT THIRD 
Scene I. 
Venice. A street. 
Enter Salanio and Salarino. 

Salan. Now, what news on the Rialto? 

Salar. Why, yet it lives there unchecked, that An- 
tonio hath a ship of rich lading wrecked on the 
narrow seas ; the Goodwins, I think they call the 
place ; a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the 5 
carcases of many a tall ship lie buried, as they 
say, if my gossip Report be an honest woman 
of her word. 

Salan. I would she were as lying a gossip in that 

as ever knapped ginger, or made her neigh- 10 
bours believe she wept for the death of a third 
husband. But it is true, without any slips of 
prolixity, or crossing the plain highway of talk, 
that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio, — 
O that I had a title good enough to keep his 15 
name company ! — 

Salar. Come, the full stop. 

Salan. Ha ! what sayest thou ! Why, the end is, he 
hath lost a ship. 

Salar. I would it might prove the end of his losses. 20 

Salan. Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the devil 
cross my prayer, for here he comes in the like- 
ness of a Jew. 



76 SHAKESPEARE. 

Enter Shyloclc. 

How now, Shylock ! what news among the mer- 
chants ? 25 

Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as you, 
of my daughter's flight. 

Salar. That's certain : I, for my part, knew the tailor 
that made the wings she flew withal. 

Solan. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird 30 
was fledged; and then it is the complexion of 
them all to leave the dam. 

Shy. She is damned for it. 

Salar. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge. 

Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel ! 35 

Salan. Out upon it, old carrion ! rebels it at these 
years ? 

Shy. I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood. 

Salar. There is more difference between thy flesh 

and hers than between jet and ivory; more be- 40 
tween your bloods than there is between red 
wine and rhenish. But tell us, do you hear 
whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no ? 

Shy. There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, 

a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on 45 
the Rialto ; a beggar, that was used to come so 
smug upon the mart ; let him look to his bond : 
he was wont to call me usurer ; let him look to 
his bond: he was wont to lend money for a 
Christian courtesy ; let him look to his bond. 50 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 77 

Salar. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not 
take his flesh : what's that good for ? 

Shy. To bait fish withal : if it will feed nothing else, 
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced 
me, and hindered me half a million ; laughed 55 
at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my 
nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my 
friends, heated mine enemies ; and what's his rea- 
son ? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes ? hath 
not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, 60 
affections, passions? fed with the same food, 
hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same 
diseases, healed by the same means, warmed 
and cooled by the same winter and summer, 
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not 65 
bleed ? if you tickle us, do we not laugh ? if you 
poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, 
shall we not revenge? if we are like you in the 
rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew 
wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Re- 70 
venge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what 
should his sufferance be by Christian example? 
Why, revenge? The villany you teach me, I 
will execute ; and it shall go hard but I will bet- 
ter the instruction. 75 

Enter a Servant. 

Serv. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his 
house, and desires to speak with you both. 
Salar. We have been up and down to seek him. 



78 SHAKESPEARE. 

Enter Tubal. 

Sedan. Here comes another of the tribe : a third can- 
not be matched, unless the devil himself turn 80 
Jew. [Exeunt Solan., Salar., and Servant. 

Shy. How now, Tubal ! what news from Genoa ? 
hast thou found my daughter ? 

Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but can- 
not find her. 85 

Shy. Why, there, there, there, there ! a diamond 
gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frank- 
fort! The curse never fell upon our nation 
till now ; I never felt it till now : two thousand 
ducats in that; and other precious, precious 90 
jewels. I would my daughter were dead at my 
foot, and the jewels in her ear ! would she were 
hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin ! 
No news of them ? Why, so : — and I know not 
what's spent in the search : why, thou loss upon 95 
loss ! the thief gone with so much, and so much 
to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no re- 
venge : nor no ill luck stirring but what lights 
on my shoulders ; no sighs but of my breathing ; 
no tears but of my shedding. 100 

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too : Antonio, as 
I heard in Genoa, — 

Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck? 

Tub. Hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tri- 

polis. 105 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 79 

Shy. I thank God, I thank God! Is 't true, is 't 
true ? 

Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped 
the wreck. 

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal: good news, good no 
news ! ha, ha ! where ? in Genoa ? 

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I" heard, in 
one night fourscore ducats. 

Shy. Thou stick'st a dagger in me : I shall never see 

my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! 115 
fourscore ducats ! 

Tub. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in 
my company to Venice, that swear he cannot 
choose but break. 

Shy. I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll tor- 120 
ture him : I am glad of it. 

Tub. One of them showed me a ring that he had of 
your daughter for a monkey. 

Shy. Out upon her ! Thou torturest me, Tubal : it 

was my turquoise ; I had it of Leah when I was 125 
a bachelor : I would not have given it for a wil- 
derness of monkeys. 

Tub. But Antonio is certainly undone. 

Shy. Nay, that's true, that's very true. Go, Tubal, 

fee me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight be- 130 
fore. I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit ; 
for, were he out of Venice, I can make what 
merchandise I will. Go, go, Tubal, and meet 
me at our synagogue ; go, good Tubal ; at our 
synagogue, Tubal. [Exeunt. 135 



80 SHAKESPEARE. 

Scene II. 

Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 

Enter Bassanio, Portia, Gratiano Nerissa, and Attendants. 

Por. I pray you, tarry : pause a day or two 

Before you hazard; for, in choosing wrong, 

I lose your company: therefore forbear awhile. 

There's something tells me, but it is not love, 

I would not lose you ; and you know yourself, 5 

Hate counsels not in such a quality. 

But lest you should not understand me well, — 

And yet a maiden hath no tongue but 

thought, — 
I would detain you here some month or two 
Before you venture for me. I could teach you 10 
How to choose right, but I am then forsworn ; 
So will I never be : so may you miss me ; 
But if you do, you'll make me wish a sin, 
That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes, 
They have o'er-look'd me, and divided me; , 15 
One half of me is yours, the other half yours, 
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then 

yours, 
And so all yours ! O, these naughty times 
Put bars between the owners and their rights ! 
And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so, 20 
Let fortune go to hell for it, not I. 
I speak too long; but 'tis to peize the time, 
To eke it and to draw it out in length, 
To stay you from election. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 81 

Bass. Let me choose; 

For as I am, I live upon the rack. 25 

Por. Upon the rack, Bassanio ! then confess 

What treason there is mingled with your love. 

Bass. None but that ugly treason of mistrust, 

Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love : 
There may as well be amity and life 30 

'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love. 

Por. Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack, 
Where men enforced do speak any thing. 

Bass. Promise me life, and I'll confess the truth. 
Well, then, confess and live. 

Bass. 'Confess/ and 'love,' 35 

Had been the very sum of my confession : 
O happy torment, when my torturer 
Doth teach me answers for deliverance ! 
But let me to my fortune and the caskets. 

Por. Away, then ! I am lock'd in one of them : 4c 
If you do love me, you will find me out. 
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof. 
Let music sound while he doth make his 

choice ; 
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, 
Fading in music: that the comparison 45 

May stand more proper, my eye shall be the 

stream, 
And watery death-bed for him. He may win ; 
And what is music then? Then music is 
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow 
To a new-crowned monarch : such it is 50 

6 



82 SHAKESPEARE. 

As are those dulcet sounds in break of day 
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's 

ear, 
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes, 
With no less presence, but with much more 

love, 
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem 55 

The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy 
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice; 
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives, 
With bleared visages, come forth to view 
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules ! 60 

Live thou, I live: with much, much more dis- 
may 
I view the fight than thou that makest the fray. 
Music, whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself. 

Song. 
Tell me where is fancy bred, 
Or in the heart or in the head? 
How begot, how nourished? 65 

Reply, reply. 
It is engender'd in the eyes, 
With gazing fed; and fancy dies 
In the cradle where it lies. 

Let us all ring fancy's knell ; 70 

I'll begin it, — Ding, dong, bell 
All. Ding, dong, bell. 

Bass. So may the outward shows be least them- 
selves : 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 83 

The world is still deceived with ornament. 

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt, 75 

But, being season'd with a gracious voice, 

Obscures the show of evil? In religion, 

What damned error, but some sober brow 

Will bless it, and approve it with a text, 

Hiding the.grossness with fair ornament? 80 

There is no vice so simple, but assumes 

Some mark of virtue on his outward parts : 

How many cowards, whose hearts are all as 

false 
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins 
The, beards of Hercules and frowning Mars ; 85 
Who, inward search 'd, have livers white as 

milk ; 
And these assume but valour's excrement 
To* render them redoubted ! Look on beauty, 
And .you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight; 
Which therein works a miracle in nature, 90 

Making them lightest that wear most of it : 
So are those crisped snaky golden locks 
Which make such wanton gambols with the 

wind, 
Upon supposed fairness, often known 
To be the dowry of a second head, 95 

The skull that bred them in the sepulchre. 
Thus ornament is but the guiled shore 
To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf 
Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word, 
The seeming truth which cunning times put on 100 

k 



8 4 SHAKESPEARE. 

To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy 
gold, 

Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee ; 

Nor none of thee, thou pale and common 
drudge 

Tween man and man: but thou, thou meagre 
lead, 

Which rather threatenest than dost promise 

aught, , 105 

Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence; 

And here choose I : joy be the consequence ! 
Por. [Aside] How all the other passions fleet to air, 

As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced de- 
spair, 

And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! no 

love, be moderate; allay thy ecstasy; 

In measure rain thy joy ; scant this excess ! 

1 feel too much thy blessing: make it less, 
For fear I surfeit ! 

Bass. What find I here? 

[Opening the leaden casket. 
Fair Portia's counterfeit! What demi-god 115 
Hath come so near creation? Move these 

eyes? 
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, 
Seem they in motion? Here are sever'd lips, 
Parted with sugar breath : so sweet a bar 
SEould sunder such sweet friends. Here in her 

hairs 120 

The painter plays the spider, and hath woven 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 85 

A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men, 
Faster than gnats in cobwebs : but her eyes, — 
How could he see to do them? having made 

one, 
Methinks it should have power to steal both 

his 125 

And leave itself unfurnislrd. Yet look, how 

far 
The substance of my praise doth wrong this 

shadow 
In underprizing it, so far this shadow 
Doth limp behind the substance. Here's the 

scroll, 
The continent and summary of my fortune. 130 
[Reads] You that choose not by the view, 

Chance as fair, and choose as true! 

Since this fortune falls to you, 

Be content and seek no new. 

If you be well pleased with this, 135 

And hold your fortune for your bliss, 

Turn you where your lady is, 

And claim her with a loving kiss. 
A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave ; 
I come by note, to give and to receive. 140 

Like one of two contending in a prize, 
That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes, 
Hearing applause and universal shout, 
Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt 
Whether those peals of praise be his or no ; 145 

So, thrice-fair ladv, stand I, even so: 



86 SHAKESPEARE. 

As doubtful whether what I see be true, 

Until confirm'd, sign'd, ratified by you. 

For. You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand, 

Such as I am: though for myself alone 150 

I would not be ambitious in my wish, 

To wish myself much better ; yet, for you 

I would be trebled twenty times myself; 

A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times 

More ricH; 155 

That only to stand high in your account, 

I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends, 

Exceed account; but the full sum of me 

Is sum of — something, which, to term in gross', 

Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpracticed ; 160 

Happy in this, she is not yet so old 

But she may learn ; happier then in this, 

She is not bred so dull but she can learn; 

Happiest of all in that her gentle spirit 

Commits itself to yours to be directed, 165 

As from her lord, her governor, her king. 

Myself and what is mine to you and yours 

Is now converted : but now I was the lord 

Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, 

Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now, 170 

This house, these servants, and this same 

myself, 
Are yours, my lord.: I give them with this ring; 
Which when you part from, lose, or give away, 
Let it presage the ruin of your love, 
And be my vantage to exclaim on you. 175 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 87 

Bass. Madam, you have bereft me of all words, 
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins ; 
And there is such confusion in my powers, 
As, after some oration fairly spoke 
By a beloved prince, there doth appear 180 

Among the buzzing pleased multitude 5 
Where every something, being blent together, 
Turns to a' wild of nothing, save of joy, 
Express'd and not express'd. But when this 

ring 
Parts from this finger, then parts life from 

hence : 185 

O, then be bold to say Bassanio's dead ! 

Ner. My lord and lady, it is now our time, 

That have stood by and seen our wishes pros- 
per, 
To cry, good joy : good joy, my lord and lady ! 

Gra. My lord Bassanio and my gentle lady, 190 

I wish you all the joy that you can wish ; 
For I am sure you can wish none from me : 
And when your honours mean to solemnize 
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you, 
Even at that time I may be married too. 195 

Bass. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife. 

Gra. I thank your lordship, you have got me one. 
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours : 
You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid ; 
You loved, I loved ; for intermission 200 

No more pertains to me, my lord, than you. 
Your fortune stood upon the casket there, 



88 SHAKESPEARE. 

And so did mine too, as the matter falls ; 

For wooing here until I sweat again, 

And swearing till my very roof was dry 205 

With oaths of love, at last, if promise last, 

I got a promise of this fair one here 

To have her love, provided that your fortune 

Achieved her mistress. 
Tor. Is this true, N'erissa? 

Ner. Madam, it is, so you stand pleased withal. 210 
Bass. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith? 
Ora. Yes, faith, my lord. 
Bass. Our feast shall be much honoured in your 

marriage. 
Gra. But who comes here? Lorenzo and his in- 
fidel? 

What, and my old Venetian friend Salerio? 215 
Enter Lorenzo, Jessica, and Salerio, a Messenger from 

Venice. 
Bass. Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither; 

If that the youth of my new interest here 

Have power to bid you welcome. By your 
leave, 

I bid my very friends and countrymen, 

Sweet Portia, welcome. 
For. So do I, my lord: 220 

They are entirely welcome. 
Lor. I thank your honour. For my part, my lord, 

My purpose was not to have seen you here ; 

But meeting with Salerio by the way, 

He did entreat me, past all saying nay, 225 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 89 

To come with him along. 
Saler. I did, my lord; 

And I have reason for it. Signior Antonio 

Commends him to you. [Gives Bassanio a letter. 
Bass. Ere I ope his letter, 

I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth. 
Saler. Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind; 230 

Nor well, unless in mind : his letter there 

Will show you his estate. 
Gra. Nerissa, cheer yon stranger; bid her welcome. 

Your hand, Salerio: what's the news from 
Venice ? 

How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio? 235 

I know he will be glad of our success; 

We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece. 
Saler. I would you had won the fleece that he hath 

lost. 
For. There are some shrewd contents in yon same 
paper, 

That steals the colour from Bassanio's cheek : 240 

Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the 
world 

Could turn so much the constitution 

Of any constant man. What, worse and worse ! 

With leave, Bassanio; I am half yourself, 

And I must freely have the half of anything 245 

That this same paper brings you. 
Bass. O sweet Portia, 

Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words 

That ever blotted paper! Gentle lady, 



90 SHAKESPEARE. 

When I did first impart my love to you, 

I freely told you, all the wealth I had 250 

Ran in my veins, I was a gentleman ; 

And then I told you true : and yet, dear lady, 

Rating myself at nothing, you shall see 

How much I was a braggart. When I told you 

My state was nothing, I should then have told 

you 255 

That I was worse than nothing; for, indeed, 
I have engaged myself to a dear friend, 
Engaged my friend to his mere enemy, 
To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady; 
The paper as the body of my friend, 260 

And every word in it a gaping wound, 
Issuing life-blood. But is it true, Salerio? 
Have all his ventures fail'd? What, not one 

hit? 
From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England, 
From Lisbon, Barbary, and India? 265 

And not one vessel scape the dreadful touch 
Of merchant-marring rocks? 
Saler. Not one, my lord. 

Besides, it should appear, that if he had 
The present money to discharge the Jew, 
He would not take it. Never did I know 27c 
A creature, that did bear the shape of man, 
So keen and greedy to confound a man : 
He plies the Duke at morning and at night ; 
And doth impeach the freedom of the state, 
If they deny him justice: twenty merchants, 275 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 91 

The Duke himself, and the magnificoes 
Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him ; 
But none can drive him from the envious plea 
Of forfeiture, of justice, and his bond. 

Jes. When I was with him I have heard him swear 280 
To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen, 
That he would rather have Antonio's flesh 
Than twenty times the value of the sum 
That he did owe him : and I know, my lord, 
If law, authority and power deny not, 285 

It will go hard with poor Antonio. 

For. Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble ? 

Bass. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man, 
The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit 
In doing courtesies ; and one in whom 290 

The ancient Roman honour more appears 
Than any that draws breath in Italy. 

For. What sum owes he the Jew? 

Bass. For me three thousand ducats. 

For. What, no more ? 

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond; 295 

Double six thousand, and then treble that, 

Before a friend of this description 

Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. 

First go with me to church and call me wife, 

And then away to Venice to your friend ; 300 

For never shall you lie by Portia's side 

With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold 

To pay the petty debt twenty times over : 

iWhen it is paid, bring your true friend along. 



92 SHAKESPEARE. 

My maid Nerissa and myself meantime 305 

Will live as maids and widows. Come, away! 
For you shall hence upon your wedding-day : 
Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer : 
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear. 
But let me hear the letter of your friend. 310 

Bass, [reads'] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all 
miscarried, my creditors grow cruel, my estate 
is very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and 
since in paying it, it is impossible I should live, 
all debts are cleared between you and I, if I 315 
might but see you at my death. Notwith- 
standing, use your pleasure : if your love do not 
persuade you to come, let not my letter. 

Por. O love, dispatch all business, and be gone! 

Bass. Since I have your good leave to go away, 320 
I will make haste: but, till I come again, 
No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay, 
No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. 

Venice. A street. 

Enter Shylock, Salarino, Antonio, and Gaoler. 

Shy. Gaoler, look to him : tell not me of mercy ; 

This is the fool that lent out money gratis : 

Gaoler, look to him. 
Ant. Hear me yet, good Shylock. 

Shy. I'll have my bond ; speak not against my bond : 

I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond. 5 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 93 

Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a 

cause ; 
But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs : 
The Duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder, 
Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond 
To come abroad with him at his request. io 

Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak. 

Shy. I'll have my bond ; I will not hear thee speak : 
I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no 

more. 
I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, 
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield 15 
To Christian intercessors. Follow not; 
I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond. [Exit. 

Salar. It is the most impenetrable cur 
That ever kept with men. 

Ant. Let him alone: 

I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers. 20 

He seeks my life; his reason well I know: 

I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures 

Many that have at times made moan to me; 

Therefore he hates me. 

Salar. I am sure the Duke 

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold. 25 

Ant. The Duke cannot deny the course of law: 
For the commodity that strangers have 
With us in Venice, if it be denied, 
Will much impeach the justice of his state; 
Since that the trade and profit of the city 30 

Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go: 



94 SHAKESPEARE. 

These griefs and losses have so bated me, 
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh 
To-morrow to my bloody creditor. 
Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come 35 
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not! 

[Exeunt. 

Scene IV. 

Belmont. A room in Portias house. 

Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthasar. 

Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence, 
You have a noble and a true conceit 
Of god-like amity ; which appears most strongly 
In bearing thus the absence of your lord. 
But if you knew to whom you show this hon- 5 

our, 
How true a gentleman you send relief, 
How dear a lover of my lord your husband, 
I know you would be prouder of the work 
Than customary bounty can enforce you. 

Tor. I never did repent for doing good, 10 

Nor shall not now: for in companions 
That do converse and waste the time together, 
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, 
There must be needs a like proportion 
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit; 15 

Which makes me think that this Antonio, 
Being the bosom lover of my lord, 
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so, 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 95 

How little is the cost I have bestow'd 

In purchasing the semblance of my soul 20 

From out the state of hellish misery ! 

This comes too near the praising of myself; 

Therefore no more of it: hear other things. 

Lorenzo, I commit into your hands 

The husbandry and manage of my house 25 

Until my lord's return : for mine own part, 

I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow 

To live in prayer and contemplation, 

Only attended by Nerissa here, 

Until her Husband and my lord's return: 30 

There is a monastery two miles off; 

And there will we abide. I do desire you 

Not to deny this imposition ; 

The which my love and some necessity 

Now lays upon you. 
Lor. Madam, with all my heart ; 35 

I shall obey you in all fair commands. 
Por. My people do already know my mind, 

And will acknowledge you and Jessica 

In place of Lord Bassanio and myself. 

And so farewell, till we shall meet again. 40 

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you ! 
Jes. I wish your ladyship all heart's content. 
Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased 

To wish it back on you : fare you well, Jessica. 

[Exeunt Jessica and Lorenzo. 

Now, Balthasar, 45 

As I have ever found thee honest-true, 



96 SHAKESPEARE. 

So let me find thee still. Take this same letter, 

And use thou all the endeavour of a man 

In speed to Padua: see thou render this 

Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario ; 50 

And, look, what notes and garments he doth 

give thee, 
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed 
Unto the tranect, to the common ferry 
Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in 

words, 
But get thee gone : I shall be there before 

thee. 55 

Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. {Exit. 

For. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand 

That you yet know not of; we'll see our husbands 
Before they think of us. 

Ner. Shall they see us ? 

For. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit, 60 

That they shall think we are acomplished 
With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager, 
When we are both accoutred like young men, 
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, 
And wear my dagger with a braver grace, 65 

And speak between the change of man and boy 
With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps 
Into a manly stride, and speak of frays 
Like a fine bragging youth ; and tell quaint 

lies, 
How honourable ladies sought my love, 70 

Which I, denying, they fell sick and died; 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 97 

I could not do withal: then I'll repent, 

And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd 

them ; 
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell, 
That men shall swear I have discontinued 

school 75 

Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind 
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, 
Which I will practise. 

But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device 
When I am in my coach, which stays for us 80 
At the park-gate ; and therefore haste away, 
For we must measure twenty miles to-day. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene V. 

The same. A garden. 

Enter Launcelot and Jessica. 

Laun. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the 
father are to be laid upon the children: there- 
fore, I promise ye, I fear you. I was always 
plain with you, and so now I speak my agita- 
tion of the matter: therefore be of good cheer; 5 
for, truly, I think you are damned. 

Jes. I shall be saved by my husband ; he hath made 
me a Christian, 

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were 

Christians enow before ; e'en as many as could 10 
well live, one by another. This making of 
7 



98 SHAKESPEARE. 

Christians will raise the price of hogs- if we 
grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly 
have a rasher on the coals for money. 

Enter Lorenzo. 

Jes. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say: 15 
here he comes. 

Lor. I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, 
if you thus get my wife into corners. 

Jes. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo : Launce- 
lot and I are out. He tells me flatly, there 20 
is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am 
a Jew's daughter: and he says, you are no 
good member of the commonwealth ; for, in 
converting Jews to Christians, you raise the 
price of pork. 25 

Lor. I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn 
into silence ; and discourse grow commendable 
in none only but parrots. Go in, sirrah ; bid 
them prepare for dinner. 

Laun. That is done, sir; they have all stomachs. 30 

Lor. Goodly Lord, what a wit-snapper are you! 
then bid them prepare dinner. 

Laun. That is done too, sir; only 'cover' is the 
word. 

Lor. Will you cover, then, sir? 35 

Laun. Not so, sir, neither ; I know my duty. 

Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occasion ! Wilt 
thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an 
instant? I pray thee, understand a plain man 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 99 

in his plain meaning: go to thy fellows; bid 40 
them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we 
will come in to dinner. 

Laun. For the table, sir, it shall be served in; for 
the meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your 
coming in to dinner, sir, why, let it be as 45 
humours and conceits shall govern. [Exit. 

Lor. O dear discretion, how his words are suited! 
The fool hath planted in his memory 
An army of good words; and I do know 
A many fools, that stand in better place, 50 

Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word 
Defy the matter. How cheer'st thou, Jessica? 
And now, good sweet, say thy opinion, 
How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife? 

Jes. Past all expressing. It is very meet 55 

The Lord Bassanio live an upright life; 
For, having such a blessing in his lady, 
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth ; 
And if on earth he do not mean it, then 
In reason he should never come to heaven. 60 

Why, if two gods should play some heavenly 

match 
And on the wager lay two earthly women, 
And Portia one, there must be something else 
Pawn'd with the other ; for the poor rude world 
Hath not her fellow. 

Lor. Even such a husband 65 

Hast thou of me as she is for a wife. 

Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that. 

ILifC. 



ioo SHAKESPEARE. 

Lor. I will anon : first, let us go to dinner. 
Jes. Nay, let me praise you while I have a stomach. 
Lor. No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk ; 70 

Then, howsoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other 
things 
I shall digest it. 
Jes. Well, I'll set you forth. [Exeunt. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 101 



ACT FOURTH. 

Scene I. 

Venice. A court of justice. 

Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio, Gra~ 

tiano, Salerio, and others. 

Duke. What, is Antonio here? 

Ant. Ready, so please your Grace. 

Duke. I am sorry for thee : thou art come to answer 
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch 
Uncapable of pity, void and empty 5 

From any dram of mercy. 

Ant. I have heard 

Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify 
His rigorous course; but since he stands ob- 
durate, 
And that no lawful means can carry me 
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose 10 

My patience to his fury ; and am arm'd 
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit, 
The very tyranny and rage of his. 

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court. 

Saler. He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord. 15 

Enter Shylock. 

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our 
face. 
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, 



102 SHAKESPEARE. 

That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice 
To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought 
Thou 'It show thy mercy and remorse more 

strange 20 

Than is thy strange apparent cruelty; 
And where thou now exact'st the penalty, 
Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh, 
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, 
But, touch'd with human gentleness and love, 25 
Forgive a moiety of the principal ; 
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, 
That have of late so huddled on his back, 
Enow to press a royal merchant down, 
And pluck commiseration of his state 30 

From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint, 
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never 

train'd 
To offices of tender courtesy. 
We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. 
Shy. I have possess'd your Grace of what I pur- 
pose; 35 
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn 
To have the due and forfeit of my bond : 
If you deny it, let the danger light 
Upon your charter and your city's freedom. 
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have 40 
A weight of carrion-flesh than to receive 
Three thousand ducats : I'll not answer that : 
But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd? 
What if my house be troubled with a rat, 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 103 

And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats 45 
To have it baned? What, are you answer d 

yet? 
Some men there are love not a gaping pig; 
Some, that are mad if they behold a cat ; 
And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose, 
Cannot contain themselves : for affection, 50 

Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood 
Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your an- 
swer : 
As there is no firm reason to be renderd, 
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig; 
Why he, a harmless necessary cat; 55 

Why he, a woollen bag-pipe ; but of force 
Must yield to such inevitable shame 
As to offend, himself being offended ; 
So can I give no reason, nor I will not, 
More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing 60 
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus 
A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd? 

Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, 
To excuse the current of thy cruelty. 

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my 

answer. 65 

Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not love? 

Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill? 

Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first. 

Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee 
twice ? 

Ant. I pray you, think you question with the Jew: 70 



104 SHAKESPEARE. 

You may as well go stand upon the beach, 
And bid the main flood bate his usual height ; 
You may as well use question with the wolf, 
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ; 
You may as well forbid the mountain pines 75 
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise, 
When they are fretten with the gusts of 

heaven ; 
You may as well do anything most hard, 
As seek to soften that: — than which what's 

harder ? — 
His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you, 80 
Make no more offers, use no farther means, 
But with all brief and plain conveniency 
Let me have judgment and the Jew his will. 

Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here is six. 

Sliy, If every ducat in six thousand ducats 85 

Were in six parts and every part a ducat, 
I would not draw them; I would have my 
bond. 

Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering 



none 



Shy. What judgment shall I dread, doing no 
wrong? 
You have among you many a purchased slave, 90 
Which, like your asses and your dogs and 

mules, 
You use in abject and in slavish parts, 
Because you bought them : shall I say to you, 
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs? 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 105 

Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds 95 
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates 
Be season'd with such viands? You will' 

answer 
The slaves are ours ;' so do I answer you : 
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him, 
Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it. 100 
If you deny me, fie upon your law! 
There is no force in the decrees of Venice 
I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it? 

Duke. Upon my power I may dismiss this court, 

Unless Bellario, a learned doctor, 105 

Whom I have sent for to determine this, 
Come here to-day. 

Baler. My lord, here stays without 

A messenger with letters from the doctor, 
New come from Padua. 

Duke. Bring us the letters; call the messenger. no 

Bass. Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage 
yet! 
The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and 
all, 
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. 

Ant. I am a tainted wether of the flock, 

Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit 115 
Drops earliest to the ground ; and so let me : 
You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio, 
Than to live still, and write mine epitaph. 

Enter Nerissa, dressed like a lawyers clerk. 



106 SHAKESPEARE. 

Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario? 

Ner. From both, my lord. Bellario greets your 120 
Grace. 

[Presenting a letter. 

Bass. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly? 

Shy. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there. 

Gra. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, 
Thou makest thy knife keen ; but no metal can, 
No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keen- 
ness 125 
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee ? 

Shy. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make. 

Gra. O, be thou damn'd, inexorable dog! 
And for thy life let justice be accused. 
Thou almost makest me waver in my faith, 130 

To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 
That souls of animals infuse themselves 
Into the trunks of men : thy currish spirit 
Governed a wolf, who hang'd for human 

slaughter, 
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, 135 
And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam. 
Infused itself in thee ; for thy desires 
Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous. 

Shy. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond, 

Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud: 140 
Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall 
To cureless ruin. I stand here for law. 

Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend 
A young and learned doctor to our court. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 107 

Where is he? 

Ner. He attendeth here hard by, 145 

To know your answer, whether you'll admit 
him. 

Duke. With all my heart. Some three or four of 
you 
Go give him courteous conduct to this place. 
Meantime the court shall hear Bellario's letter. 

Cleric, [reads] Your Grace shall understand that at 150 
the receipt of your letter I am very sick : but in 
the instant that your messenger came, in loving 
visitation was with me a young doctor of Rome ; 
his name is Balthasar. I acquainted him with 
the cause in controversy between the Jew and 155 
Antonio the merchant: we turned o'er many 
books together: he is furnished with my 
opinion ; which, bettered with his own learning, 
— the greatness whereof I cannot enough 
commend, — comes with him, at my importunity, 160 
to fill up your Grace's request in my stead. I 
beseech you, let his lack of years be no impedi- 
ment to let him lack a reverend estimation ; for 
I never knew so young a body with so old a head. 
I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose 165 
trial shall better publish his commendation. 

VuTce. You hear the learn'd Bellario, what he writes : 
And here, I take it, is the doctor come. 

Enter Portia for Balthasar. 
Give me your hand. Came you from old Bel- 
lario ? 



108 SHAKESPEARE. 

Por. I did, my lord. 

Duke. You are welcome: take your place. 170 

Are you acquainted with the difference 
That holds this present question in the court ? 

Por. I am informed throughly of the cause. 

Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? 

Duke. Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. 175 

Por. Is your name Shylock? 

Shy. Shylock is my name. 

Por. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow; 
Yet in such rule that the Venetian law 
Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. 
You stand within his danger, do you not? 180 

Ant. Ay, so he says. 

Por. Do you confess the bond? 

Ant. I do. 

Por. Then must the Jew be merciful. 

Shy. On what compulsion must I ? tell me that. 

Por. The quality of mercy is not strain'd, 

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 185 

Upon the place beneath : it is twice blest ; 

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes 

The throned monarch better than his crown ; 

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 190 

The attribute to awe and majesty, 

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; 

But mercy is above this sceptred sway; 

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 

It is an attribute to God himself; 195 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 109 

And earthly power doth then show likest God's 

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 

Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 

That, in the course of justice, none of us 

Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 200 

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 

The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much 

To mitigate the justice of thy plea ; 

Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice 

Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant 

there. 205 

Shy. My deeds upon my head ! I crave the law, 
The penalty and forfeit of my bond. 

Por. Is he not able to discharge the money ? 

Bass. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court ; 

Yea, twice the sum : if that will not suffice, 210 

I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er, 

On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart : 

If this will not suffice, it must appear 

That malice bears down truth. And I beseech 

you, 
Wrest once the law to your authority: 215 

To do a great right, do a little wrong, 
And curb this cruel devil of his will. 

Por. It must not be; there is no power in Venice 
Can alter a decree established: 

'Twill be recorded for a precedent, 220 

And many an error, by the same example, 
Will rush into the state : it cannot be. 

Shy. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel! 



no SHAKESPEARE. 

O wise young judge, how I do honour thee! 

Por. I pray you, let me look upon the bond. '225 

Shy. Here 'tis, most reverend doctor, here it is. 

Por. Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer d thee. 

Shy. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven : 
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul? 
No, not for Venice. 

Por. Why, this bond is forfeit; 230 

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim 
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off 
Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful : 
Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond. 

Shy. When it is paid according to the tenour. 235 

It doth appear you are a worthy judge; 
You know the law, your exposition 
Hath been most sound: I charge you by the 

law, 
Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar, 
Proceed to judgment : by my soul I swear 240 

There is no power in the tongue of man 
To alter me : I stay here on my bond. 

Ant. Most heartily I do beseech the court 
To give the judgment. 

Por. Why then, thus it is : 

You must prepare your bosom for his knife. 245 

Shy. O noble judge ! O excellent young man ! 

Por. For the intent and purpose of the law 
Hath full relation to the penalty, 
Which here appeareth due upon the bond. 

Shy. 'Tis very true ; O wise and upright judge ! 250 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. Ill 

How much more elder art thou than thy looks ! 

Por. Therefore lay bare your bosom. 

Shy. Ay, his breast: 

So says the bond:— doth it not, noble judge? — 
'Nearest his heart :' those are the very words. 

Por. It is so. Are there balance here to weigh 255 
The flesh? 

Shy. I have them ready. 

Por. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your 
charge, 
To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death. 

Shy. Is it so nominated in the bond? 

Por. It is not so express'd : but what of that ? 260 

'Twere good you do so much for charity. 

Shy. I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond. 

Por. You, merchant, have you any thing to say? 

Ant. But little: I am arm'd and well prepared. 

Give me your hand, Bassanio : fare you well! 265 
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you ; 
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind 
Than is her custom : it is still her use 
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, 
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow 270 
An age of poverty; from which lingering pen- 
ance 
Of such misery doth she cut me off. 
Commend me to your honourable wife : 
Tell her the process of Antonio's end; 
Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death; 275 
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge 



H2 SHAKESPEARE. 

Whether Bassanio had not once a love. 

Repent not you that you shall lose your friend, 

And he repents not that he pays your debt ; 

For if the Jew do cut but deep enough; 280 

I'll pay it presently with all my heart, 
Bass. Antonio, I am married to a wife 

Which is as dear to me as life itself ; 

But life itself, my wife, and all the world, 

Are not with me esteem'd above thy life: 285 

I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all 

Here to this devil, to deliver you. 
Tor. Your wife would give you little thanks for 
that, 

If she were by, to hear you make the offer. 
Gra. I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love: 290 

I would she were in heaven, so she could 

Entreat some power to change this currish Jew. 
Ner. Tis well you offer it behind her back ; 

The wish would make else an unquiet house. 
Shy. These be the Christian husbands. I have a 

daughter ; 295 

Would any of the stock of Barrabas 

Had been her husband rather than a Christian ! 

[Aside. 

We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence. 
Tor. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is 
thine : 

The court awards it, and the law doth give it. 300 
Shy. Most rightful judge! 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 113 

Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his 
breast : 
The law allows it, and the court awards it. 
Shy. Most learned judge ! A sentence ! Come, pre- 
pare! 
Por. Tarry a little; there is something else. 305 

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood ; 
The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:' 
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of 

flesh; 
But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 
One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and 

goods 310 

Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate 
Unto the state of Venice. 
Gra. O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned 

judge ! 
Shy. Is that the law? 
Por. Thyself shalt see the act: 

For, as thou urgest justice, be assured 315 

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou de- 
sirest. 
Gra. O learned judge ! Mark, Jew : a learned judge ! 
Shy. I take this ofl'er, then ; pay the bond thrice, 

And let the Christian go. 
Bass. Here is the money. 

Por. Soft! 3 20 

The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste: 
He shall have nothing but the penalty. 
Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge! 
8 



ii 4 SHAKESPEARE. 

Por. Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh. 

Shecl thou no blood ; nor cut thou less nor more 325 

But just a pound of flesh : if thou cut'st more 

Or less than a just pound, be it but so much 

As makes it light or heavy in the substance 

Or the division of the twentieth part 

Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn 330 

But in. the estimation of a hair, 

Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate. 
Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew ! 

Now, infidel, I have you on the hip. 
Por. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. 335 
Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go. 
Bass. I have it ready for thee ; here it is. 
Por. He hath refused it in the open court : 

He shall have merely justice and his bond. 
Gra. A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel ! 340 

I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. 
Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal? 
Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, 

To be so taken at thy peril, Jew. 
Shy. Why, then the devil give him good of it! 345 

I'll stay no longer question. 
Por. Tarry, Jew: 

The law hath yet another hold on you. 

It is enacted in the laws of Venice, 

If it be proved against an alien 

That by direct or indirect attempts 350 

He seek the life of any citizen, 

The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 115 

Shall seize one half his goods ; the other half 

Comes to the privy coffer of the state; 

And the offender's life lies in the mercy 355 

Of the Duke only, 'gainst all other voice. 

In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st; 

For it appears, by manifest proceeding, 

That indirectly, and directly too, 

Thou hast contrived against the very life 360 

Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd 

The danger formerly by me rehearsed. 

Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke. 

Gra. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thy- 
self: 
And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, 365 
Thou hast not left the value of a cord ; 
Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's 
charge. 

Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our 
spirits, 
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it: 
For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ; 370 

The other half comes to the general state, 
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine. 

Por. Ay, for the state, not for Antonio. 

Shy. Nay, take my life and all ; pardon not that : 

You take my house, when you do take the prop 375 
That doth sustain my house ; you take my life, 
When you do take the means whereby I live. 

Por. What mercy can you render him, Antonio? 

Gra. A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake. 



n6 SHAKESPEARE. 

Ant. So please iny lord the Duke and all the court 380 

To quit the fine for one half of his goods, 

I am content; so he will let me have 

The other half in use, to render it, 

Upon his death, unto the gentleman 

That lately stole his daughter: 385 

Two things provided more, that, for this fa- 
vour, 

He presently become a .Christian ; 

The other, that he do record a gift, 

Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd, 

Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter. 390 

Duke. He shall do this, or else I do recant 

The pardon that I late pronounced here. 
Por. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say? 
Shy. I am content. 

Por. Clerk, draw a deed of gift. 

Shy. I pray you, give me leave to go from hence; 395 

I am not well : send the deed after me, 

And I will sign it. 
Duke. Get thee gone, but do it. 

Gra. In christening shalt thou have two godfathers : 

Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten 
more, 

To bring thee to the gallows; not the font. 400 

[Exit Shylock. 
Duke. Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner. 
Por. I humbly do desire your Grace of pardon: 

I must away this night toward Padua, 

And it is meet I presently set forth. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 117 

Duke. I am sorry that your leisure serves you not. 405 
Antonio, gratify this gentleman, 
For, in my mind, you are much bound to him. 

[Exeunt Duke and his train. 

Bass. Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend 
Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted 
Of grievous penalties ; in lieu whereof, 410 

Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew, 
We freely cope your courteous pains withal. 

Ant. And stand indebted, over and above, 
In love and service to you evermore. 

For. He is well paid that is well satisfied; 415 

And I, delivering you, am satisfied, 
AncT therein do account myself well paid : 
My mind was never yet more mercenary. 
I pray you, know me when we meet again : 
I wish you well, and so I take my leave. 420 

Bass. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further : 
Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute, 
Not as a fee : grant me two things, I pray you, 
Not to deny me, and to pardon me. 

Tor. You press me far, and therefore I will yield. 425 
Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your 

sake ; [To Ant. 

And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you : 

[To Bass. 
Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no 

more; 
And you in love shall not deny me this. 



n8 SHAKESPEARE. 

Bass. This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle! 430 

I will not shame myself to give you this. 

Por. I will have nothing else but only this ; 
And now methinks I have a mind to it. 

Bass. There's more depends on this than on the 
value. 
The dearest ring in Venice will I give you, 435 
And find it out by proclamation : 
Only for this, I pray you, pardon me. 

Por. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers : 

You taught me first to beg; and now methinks 
You teach me how a beggar should be an- 

swer'd. 440 

Bass. Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife ; 
And when she put it on, she made me vow 
That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it. 

Por. That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts. 

An if your wife be not a mad-woman, 445 

And know how well I have deserved the ring, 
She would not hold out enemy for ever, 
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you ! 

[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa. 

Ant. My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring: 

Let his deservings and my love withal 450 

Be valued 'gainst your wife's commandment. 

Bass. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him; 

Give him the ring; and bring him, if thou 

canst, 
'Unto Antonio's house : away ! make haste, 

[Exit Gratiano. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. ng 

Come, you and I will thither presently ; 455 

And in the morning early will we both 

Fly toward Belmont: come, Antonio. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. 
The same. A street. 
EiAer Portia and Nerissa. 
For. Inquire the Jew's house out, give him this deed 
And let him sign it : we'll away to-night 
And be a day before our husbands home : 
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo. 

Enter Gratiano. 
Gra. Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en : 5 

My Lord Bassanio upon more advice 
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat 
Your company at dinner. 
Por. That cannot be: 

His ring I do accept most thankfully: 
And so, I pray you, tell him : furthermore, 10 

I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's 
house. 
Gra. That will I do. 

Ner. Sir, I would speak with you. 

I'll see if I can get my husband's ring, 

[Aside to Portia. 
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever. 
Por. [Aside to Ner.~\ Thou mayst, I warrant. We 

shall have old swearing 15 

That they did give the rings away to men ; 



120 SHAKESPEARE. 

But we'll outface them, and outswear them too. 
[Aloud'] Away ! make haste : thou know'st 
where I will tarry. 
Ner. Come, good sir, will you show me to this 
house? 

[Exeunt. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 



ACT FIFTH. 

Scene I. 

Belmont. Avenue to Portias house. 

Enter Lorenzo and Jessica. 

Lor. The moon shines bright: in such a night as 
this, 
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees 
And they did make, no noise, in such a night 
Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls, 
And sigh'd his soul toward the Grecian tents, 5 
Where Cressid lay that night. 

Jes. In such a night 

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew, 
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself, 
And ran dismay'd away. 

Lor. In such a night 

Stood Dido with a willow in her hand 10 

Upon the wild sea banks, and waft her love 
To come again to Carthage. 

Jes. In such a night 

Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs 
That did renew old iEson. 

Lor. In such a night 

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew, 15 

And with an unthrift love did run from Venice 
As far as Belmont. 



122 SHAKESPEARE. 

Jes. In such a night 

Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well, 
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith 
And ne'er a true one. 

Lor. In such a night 20 

Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, 
Slander her love, and he forgave it her. 

Jes. I would out-night you, did no body come; 
But, hark, I hear the footing of a man. 

Enter Stephano. 

Lor. Who comes so fast in silence of the night? 25 

Steph. A friend. 

Lor. A friend ! what friend ? your name, I pray you, 
friend ? 

Steph. Stephano is my name; and I bring word 
My mistress will before the break of day 
Be here at Belmont: she doth stray about 30 

By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays 
For happy wedlock hours. 

Lor. Who comes with her? 

Steph. None but a holy hermit and her maid. 
I pray you, is my master yet return'd? 

Lor. He is not, nor we have not heard from him. 35 

But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica. 
And ceremoniously let us prepare 
Some welcome for the mistress of the house. 

Enter Launcelot. 
Laun. Sola, sola! wo ha, ho! sola, sola! 
Lor. Who calls? 40 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 123 

Laun. Sola ! did you see Master Lorenzo ? Master 
Lorenzo, sola, sola! 

Lor. Leave hollaing, man : here. 

Laun. Sola! where? where? 

Lor. Here. 45 

Laun. Tell him there's a post come from my master, 
with his horn full of good news : my master will 
be here ere morning. [Exit. 

Lor. Sweet soul, let's in, and there expect their 
coming. 
And yet no matter: why should we go in? 50 
My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you, 
Within the house, your mistress is at hand; 
And bring your music forth into the air. 

[Exit Stephano. 
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this 

bank! 
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music 55 
Creep in our ears : soft stillness and the night 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold : 
There's not the smallest orb which thou be- 

hold'st 60 

But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; 
Such harmony is in immortal souls ; 
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 65 



124 SHAKESPEARE. 

Enter Musicians. 

Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn! 
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' 

ear, 
And draw her home with music. [Music. 

Jes. I am never merry when I hear sweet music. 
Lor. The reason is, your spirits are attentive: 70 

For do but note a wild and wanton herd, 
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, 
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing 

loud, 
Which is the hot condition of their blood ; 
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound, 75 
Or any air of music touch their ears, 
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, 
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze 
By the sweet power of music : therefore the 

poet 
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and 

floods ; 80 

Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage, 
But music for the time doth change his nature. 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet 

sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils ; 85 

The motions of his spirit are dull as night, 
And his affections dark as Erebus : 
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 125 

Enter Portia and Nerissa. 

Por. That light we see is burning in my hall. 

How far that little candle throws his beams! 90 
So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 

Ner. When the moon shone, we did not see the 
candle. 

Por. So doth the greater glory dim the less: 
A substitute shines brightly as a king, 
Until a king be by; and then his state 95 

Empties itself, as doth an inland brook 
Into the main of waters. Music! hark! 

Ner. It is your music, madam, of the house. 

Por. Nothing is good, I see, without respect: 

Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. 100 

Ner. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. 

Por. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark, 
When neither is attended ; and I think 
The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
When every goose is cackling, would be 

thought I0 5 

No better a musician than the wren. 
How many things by season season'd are 
To their right praise and true perfection! 
Peace, ho ! the moon sleeps with Endymion, 
And would not be awaked. [Music ceases. 

Lor. That is the voice, no 

Or I am much deceived, of Portia. 

Por. He knows me as the blind man knows the 
cuckoo, 



126 SHAKESPEARE. 

By the bad voice. 
Lor. Dear lady, welcome home. 

Por. We have been praying for our husbands' 
healths, 

Which speed, we hope, the better for our 

words. 115 

Are they return'd? 
Lor. Madam, they are not yet; 

But there is come a messenger before, 

To signify their coming. 
Por. Go in, Nerissa; 

Give order to my servants that they take 

No note at all of our being absent hence; 120 

Nor you, Lorenzo; Jessica, nor you. 

[A tucket sounds. 
Lor. Your husband is at hand ; I hear his trumpet : 

We are no tell-tales, madam ; fear you not. 
Por. This night methinks is but the daylight sick; 

It looks a little paler: 'tis a day, 125 

Such as the day is when the sun is hid. 
Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratiano, and their followers. 
Bass. We should hold day with the Antipodes, 

If you would walk in absence of the sun. 
Por. Let me give light, but let me not be light; 

For a light wife doth make a heavy husband, 130 

And never be Bassanio so for me : 

But God sort all! You are welcome home, 
my lord. 
Bass. I thank you, madam. Give welcome to my 
friend. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 127 

This is the man, this is Arttonio, 

To whom I am so infinitely bound. 135 

Tor. You should in all sense be much bound to him, 
For, as I hear, he was much bound for you. 

Ant. No more than I am well acquitted of. 

For. Sir, you are very welcome to our house : 

It must appear in other ways than words, 140 

Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy. 

Gra. [To Nerissa] By yonder moon I swear you 
do me wrong; 
In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk. 

Por. A quarrel, ho, already! what's the matter? 

Gra. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring 145 

That she did give me, whose posy was 
For all the world like cutler's poetry 
Upon a knife, 'Love me, and leave me not.' 

Ner. What talk you of the posy or the value? 

You swore to me, when I did give it you, 150 

That you would wear it till your hour of death, 
And that it should lie with you in your grave : 
Though not for me, yet for your vehement 

oaths, 
You should have been respective, and have 

kept it. 
Gave it a judge's clerk! no, God's my judge, 155 
The clerk will ne'er wear hair on's face that 
had it. 

Gra. He will, an if he live to be a man. 

Ner. Ay, if a woman live to be a man. 

Gra. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth, 



128 SHAKESPEARE. 

A kind of boy, a little scrubbed boy, 160 

No higher than thyself, the judge's clerk, 
A prating boy, that begg'd it as a fee: 
I could not for my heart deny it him. 

Tor. You were to blame, I must be plain with you, 

To part so slightly with your wife's first gift; 165 
A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger 
And so riveted with faith unto your flesh. 
I gave my love a ring, and made him swear 
Never to part with it ; and here he stands ; 
I dare be sworn for him he would not leave it 170 
Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth 
That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gra- 

tiano, 
You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief : 
An 'twere to me, I should be mad at it. 

Bass. [Aside] Why, I were best to cut my left hand 

off, 175 

And swear I lost the ring defending it. 

Gra. My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away 
Unto the judge that begg'd it, and indeed 
Deserved it too ; and then the boy, his clerk, 
That took some pains in writing, he begg'd 

mine; 180 

And neither man nor master would take aught 
But the two rings. 

Por. What ring gave you, my lord? 

Not that, I hope, which you received of me. 

Bass. If I could add a lie unto a fault, 

I would deny it; but you see my finger 185 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. ' 129 

Hath not the ring upon it ; it is gone. 

Por. Even so void is your false heart of truth. 
By heaven, I will ne'er come in your bed 
Until I see the ring. 

Net: Nor I in yours 

Till I again see mine. 

Bass. Sweet Portia, 190 

If you did know to whom I gave the ring, 
If you did know for whom I gave the ring, 
And would conceive for what I gave the ring, 
And how unwillingly I left the ring, 
When nought would be accepted but the ring, 195 
You would abate the strength of your dis- 
pleasure. 

Por. If you had known the virtue of the ring, 
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring, 
Or your own honour to contain the ring, 
You would not then have parted with the ring. 200 
What man is there so much unreasonable, 
If you had pleased to have defended it 
With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty 
To urge the thing held as a ceremony? 
Nerissa teaches me what to believe: 205 

I'll die for 't but some woman had the ring. 

Bass. No, by my honour, madam, by my soul, 
No woman had it, but a civil doctor, 
Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me, 
And begg'd the ring ; the which I did deny him, 210 
And suffer'd him to go displeased away ; 
Even he that did uphold the very life 
9 



i 3 o SHAKESPEARE. 

Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet 
lady? 

I was enforced to send it after him ; 

I was beset with shame and courtesy; 215 

My honour would not let ingratitude 

So much besmear it. Pardon me, good lady; 

For, by these blessed candles of the night, 

Had you been there, I think you would have 
begg'd 

The ring of me to give the worthy doctor. 220 

Por. Let not that doctor e'er come near my house : 

Since he hath got the jewel that I loved, 

And that which you did swear to keep for me, 

I will become as liberal as you; 

I'll not deny him any thing I have. 225 

Ant. I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels. 
Por. Sir, grieve not you ; you are welcome notwith- 
standing. 
Bass. Portia, forgive me this enforced wrong; 

And, in the hearing of these many friends, 

I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes, 230 

Wherein I see myself, — 
Por. Mark you but that! 

In both my eyes he doubly sees himself ; 

In each eye, one: swear by your double self, 

And there's an oath of credit. 
Bass. Nay, but hear me: 

Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear 235 

I never more will break an oath with thee. 
Ant. I once did lend my body for his wealth ; 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 131 

Which, but for him that had your husband's 

ring, 
Had quite miscarried : I dare be bound again, 
My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord 240 

Will never more break faith advisedly. 

Por. Then you shall be his surety. Give him this, 
And bid him keep it better than the other. 

Ant. Here, Lord Bassanio; swear to keep this ring. 

Bass. By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor! 245 

Por. I had it of him: You are all amazed: 
Here is a letter; read it at your leisure; 
It comes from Padua, from Bellario: 
There you shall find that Portia was the doctor, 
Nerissa there her clerk: Lorenzo here 250 

Shall witness I set forth as soon as you, 
And even but now return'd; I have not yet 
Enter'd my house. Antonio, you are welcome ; 
And I have better news in store for you 
Than you expect ; unseal this letter soon ; 255 

There you shall find three of your argosies 
Are richly come to harbour suddenly: 
You shall not know by what strange accident 
I chanced on this letter. 

Ant. I am dumb. 

Bass. Were you the doctor and I knew you not? 260 

Ant. Sweet lady, you have given me life and living ; 
For here I read for certain that my ships 
Are safely come to road. 

Por. How now, Lorenzo ! 

My clerk hath some good comforts too for you. 



132 SHAKESPEARE. 

Ner. Ay, and I'll give them him without a fee. 265 

There do I give to you and Jessica, 
From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift, 
After his death, of all he dies possessed of. 

Lor. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way 
Of starved people. 

Tor. It is almost morning, 270 

And yet I am sure you are not satisfied 
Of these events at full Let us go in ; 
And charge us there upon inter'gatories, 
And we will answer all things faithfully. 

Gra. Well, while I live I'll fear no other thing 275 

So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring. [Exeunt. 



Notes. 



Abbreviations Used. 

CL, Clarendon Press ed. of the play. 

A. ' Arden ed. of the play, D. C. Heath & Co. 

Abbott, Abbott's Shakesperian Grammar. 

V., Variorum ed. of the play, by Horace Howard Furness. 

G.*' F. B. Gummere's ed. of the play, Longmans, Green & Co. 

b7 "." W. J. Rolfe's ed. of the play, Harper & Brothers. 

Schmidt, Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon. 

P Pitt Press ed. of the play, Cambridge University Press. 



The first folio divides the play into acts, but not into scenes. 
The quartos mark neither acts nor scenes. 

ACT I. 

SCENE I. 

The very name of the place of action, Venice, then a rich, 
powerful city, with its magnificence and the wonders of its unique 
location, added a background of romance to the scene. 

i. Sooth: truth; common in Shakespeare's time, now obsolete. 

Sad: Antonio makes the impression throughout the play as 
being a man of melancholy temperament ; but he is now evidently 
suffering from an unusual and, to him, inexplicable depression. 
His friends have noted it. This probably portends coming dis- 
aster. We know how often and how effectively this device is 
used in plays and tales of adventure. The spectator is sympa- 
thetic and expectant from the start, a great advantage. 

2. ff. It, i. e., my sadness. The antecedent noun is not ex- 
pressed, but is easily supplied from the adjective, sad 



134 NOTES. 

3. Caught it : Antonio, in using these figures, seems to be try- 
ing to treat the matter lightly. 

5. I am to learn, i. c, I have yet to learn. Short lines, like 
this, not to be considered unfinished lines, are introduced with 
effect in series of regular verses, by reason of their deviation 
from the normal type. See Abbott, § 511. 

6. Want-wit : wit, of course, in the older sense of wisdom. 
These expressive compounds were much commoner in the earlier 
stages of the language than at present. 

8. Ocean : This word, pronounced as a trisyllable, was often 
used effectively at the end of the line to suggest the rhythmic 
movement of the sea. G., in his note on this passage, has ob- 
served this, and cites similar effects in Milton and Marlowe. 

9. Argosies : large merchant-ships. 

Portly : Mark the fine effect of this word. It leads up natu- 
rally to the comparison in the next line. 

11. Pageants: lofty platforms, often two stories high, used as 
stages in the presentation of miracle plays. They were drawn on 
wheels through the streets, and would "overpeer" the ordinary 
vehicle. 

13, 14. Note the truth and aptness of the figure, the alliteration, 
and the rhythm of the movement. 

16. Affections : attention, thoughts. May the word be used in 
this sense at present? 

17. Still: always. Cp. 1. 136. 

19. Roads : harbors ; "where ships ride at anchor. Cp. Hampton 
Roads," G. 

22. Salarino, in a bantering strain, attempts, by transparent 
hyperbole, to drive away Antonio's sadness. 

23. To an ague, i. e., into an ague. 

25. Sandy : The hour-glass, generally introduced in illustra- 
tion of the oassing of time, is here significant only on account of 
its sand; hence the unusual application of the adjective, sandy. 

27. Wealthy: Could this adjective be thus applied now? 

Andrew : evidently a common name for a ship. It may or may 



NOTES. 135 

not have been associated with the Genoese admiral, Andrea 
Doria, as suggested by some commentators. 

Dock'd: Rowe's emendation for "docks" in the quartos and 
folios. 

28. Vailing : lowering, with the sense of submission. Com- 
pare the following: 

"It did me good 
To see the Spanish carvel vail her top 
Unto my maiden flag." 

Hey wood's Fair Maid of the West, Part I, Act IV, 57 (Shakesp. 
Soc. ed.), cited by CI. 

29. Burial : burying place. An impressive figure. 

35. Worth this : referring, apparently, to the spices and silks 
just mentioned. The force of the expression is, perhaps, to be 
supplemented by a gesture. It is possible, as some commentators 
suggest, that a line has fallen out between this line and the pre- 
ceding. 

36, 37. Thought : In the first instance, the word seems to mean 
the thinking-power, and in the second, the thought itself. Such 
playing with phrases was very common in Shakespeare's time. 

40. To think : from thinking. 

42. Bottom : This figure is still common ; cp. "American com- 
merce is carried upon British bottoms." 

46. This line, by strict metrical test, lacks a foot. But the 
rhythm, by reason of the protracted stress on Fie, He! is com- 
plete, and we need not be disturbed about the lacking foot. 

47. It is hardly necessary to call attention to the double nega- 
tive here and elsewhere. It was by birthright good English, and 
is still a natural impulse; witness the unconventional speech of 
the children and the illiterate. 

50. The line is an Alexandrine. 

Two-headed, i. e., two-faced. This oath is suggested, appar- 
ently, by the two aspects of Nature expressed in the "strange 
fellows" she has framed. 



136 NOTES. 

52. Peep through their eyes: very suggestive of merry 
people, who, in laughing, half close their eyes. 

53. Bag-piper: The last rhythmic stress of the verse falls 
naturally upon the last syllable of this word, if the line be read 
correctly. This is not a wrenching of the accent, since the pre- 
ceding syllable retains its own accent. If we consider the verse 
as the metrical unit, as G. has said in his discussion of the metre 
o"f this play, and be not too much dominated by the consideration 
of feet, such verses will generally take care of themselves. The 
verse stress and the word accent will generally coincide, but not 
universally. When they do not, both should be preserved. The 
succession of two heavy word-accents and a verse-sness, as in 
this case, is unusual. 

54. Other: here a plural, as often in the usage of the time. 
See Abbott, § 12. 

Aspect: pronounced with the accent on the last syllable in 
Shakespeare's time. Milton's verse shows the same accent. For 
a list of words that have undergone a change of accent since the 
Elizabethan period, see Abbott, § 490. 

55. In way: Abbott (§89) notes the omission of "the" in this 
expression, when it is modified by a phrase following; cp. "By 
way of illustration," and the like. 

56. Nestor: What is the force of the reference? Note the 
effective subjunctives in the line. 

58. Ye: a plural form, often used then and since as a singu- 
lar. 

61. Prevented : anticipated. Words derived from the Latin or 
other foreign languages have, when first introduced, nearly or 
quite the original meanings, but gradually undergo change. Cp. 
convince (overpower), Macbeth, I, vii, 64. CI. cites Psalms, 
cxix, 148 : "Mine eyes prevent the night-watches." 

63, 64. The tone of this is apparently cynical ; it may be a 
faint effort at jocularity. 

67. You grow exceeding strange : we see you very rarely. 

Must it be so? This is generally understood to mean: "Must 



NOTES. 137 

you really go?" It may mean, however, "Must we remain such 
strangers?" 

74. Resfect upon : regard for. The original sense of looking 
back upon may have caused the use of the preposition, upon. 
See Abbott, § 191. 

78. A stage: A favorite comparison in Shakespeare, and an 
effective one. Cp. As You Like It, II, vii, 139ft- ', Macbeth, V, v, 
24ff.; King Lear, IV, vi, 187; Sonnet, 15. Of course, many other 
writers have used the same figure. 

79. Mine a sad one : This gives evidence of Antonio's "consti- 
tutional melancholy," as suggested by G. 

Fool: Gratiano takes his cue from Antonio, and continues the 
figure of the world as a stage. The fool or clown was a very 
familiar figure in the Elizabethan plays. 

80. Old wrinkles : Let the wrinkles of old age come attended 
by, and caused by, mirth and laughter. Commentators have noted 
this pretty use of an adjective performing "the office of the first 
part of a compound noun," or of a phrase. Cp. "The aged 
wrinkles in my cheeks," Titus Andronicus, III, i, 7. For other 
examples, see Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon, pp. 1415, 1416. 

82. We say we are "warm," "cool," or "cold," to denote a state 
of feeling or temperament. As suggested by several commenta- 
tors, the reference here is to the common belief that sighs and 
groans literally deprived the heart of its blood. Cp. "heart- 
offending groans," "blood-consuming sighs," "blood-drinking 
sighs," 2 Henry VI, III, ii, 60-63 ; blood-sucking sighs," 3 Henry 
VI, IV, iv, 22; "Dry sorrow drinks our blood," Romeo and 
Juliet, III, v, 59. There can be no doubt, of course, that the con- 
dition of the mind reacts upon the body. 

Mortifying : bringing death. 

85. Jaundice: V. cites medical authorities in evidence that 
jaundice often results from disturbed conditions of mind. Cp. 
"The envy of wealth jaundiced his soul," Bulwer, My Novel, 
II, 10. 

89. Cream and mantle, i. e., "Wisdom, gravity, and conceit 
will gather and thicken upon their faces like cream or scum." 



i 3 8 NOTES. 

Cp. "The green mantle of the standing pool,'' King Lear, III, iv, 
136, and "The filthy-mantled pool," Tempest, IV, i, 182. 

90. And do: Abbott, §244, notes that the relative is often 
omitted in Shakespeare when it is easily supplied. 

Wilful stillness entertain : maintain an obstinate silence. 
Note the change that has taken place in the word entertain. 

92. Conceit: thought; intellectual power. This word has not 
its modern meaning in Shakespeare. 

93. Who : used here and elsewhere in Shakespeare in the in- 
definite sense, as also in the earlier writers. CI. compares with 
it the French "comme qui dirait." It is used in the same ex- 
pression as here in I, ii, 50, of this play. 

Sir Oracle : for "sir an Oracle," in the folios. The expression 
implies contempt for this "sort of men." Cp. "Sir Prudence," 
Tempest, II, i, 286; "Sir Valour," Troihis and Cressida, I, 
iii, 176. 

98. Would almost damn: The omitted subject is easily sup- 
plied. Unnecessary emendations have been suggested; see Ab- 
bott, § 399, for discussion and other examples of the construc- 
tion. The passage refers, of course, to Matthew, v. 22. If 
these wiseacres should speak, so great would be their folly that 
men would call them fools and so incur the penalty named in the 
scripture. 

102. Fool gudgeon: R. cites Izaak Walton on the gudgeon: 
"It is an excellent fish to enter (initiate) a young angler, being 
easy to be taken." Fool is used as an adjective very much as in 
the colloquial speech of to-day; cp. "fool multitude," II, ix, 26, of 
this play. 

108. Moe: more, from the Old English ma. Shakespeare uses 
both forms. 

no. Gear: affair, business; a word of indefinite meaning, and 
used in many different senses by Shakespeare and other writers 
of the time. Cp. II, ii, 177, of this play. This line furnishes ad- 
ditional evidence of Antonio's silent habit. 

in, 112. G. makes the excellent point that these two lines are 
not to be forced into iambic pentameters, but are rather rough ana- 



NOTES. 139 

pestic tetrameters, "a modification of the 'tumbling' variety dis- 
credited by Puttenham." 

113. Is that any thing, now? Rowe's emendation, except 
the comma, for "It is that any thing now," the reading of the 
quartos and folio. Johnson's "Is that any thing new" is in- 
genious. 

114. The dialogue changes to prose, apparently because of the 
everyday character of the matter, naturally expressed in collo- 
quial form. Yet it is not easy to explain, by the same reasoning, 
why the verse form is retained in some other places. 

125. Something: somewhat. See also 1. 130 below. 

Swelling port: ambitious deportment; expensive mode of life. 
A common use of the word "port" at that time. 

127. To be abridged: at being reduced. A common use of the 
gerund infinitive in the older stages of the language. For a dis- 
cussion and examples of the construction, see Abbott, § 356. 

130. Time: past life. 

131. Gaged: pledged. 

137. Still: always, constantly. What would be the difference 
in meaning if the word were used in its modern sense? See 
1. 17, above. 

138. Eye of honor: limits of honest methods. 

140. Occasions: requirements. Note that the termination, 
— ion, is here, as often in Shakespeare, pronounced as of two 
syllables. 

142. His: its. The old neuter genitive, his, was slowly yield- 
ing to the new form, its, which was only sparingly used by 
Shakespeare, and even by Milton. See Abbott, § 228. 

Fellow of the self-same flight : an arrow of the same make, 
weight, and range. 

143. Advised W'Atch : careful observation. 

144. Forth : out ; so, "To find his fellow forth," Comedy of 
Errors, I, ii, 37, and other similar expressions. The line should 
be accepted and read simply as an Alexandrine. 

145. Childhood: The noun is used here as an adjective, as 
also in Midsummer Night's Dream, III, ii, 202, "Childhood inno- 



140 NOTES. 

cence." This use of one part of speech as another is well known ; 
cp. "gold ring"; "to tree a squirrel." 

146. Innocence: childish simplicity. V. suggests "foolish- 
ness." 

147. Like a wilful youth : The construction is irregular, or 
interrupted, for "as in the case of a wilful (thoughtless) youth," 
or the like. 

149. Self : same ; also, as often in the older writers, used re- 
dundantly in "selfsame." 

150. Which : How does the construction here differ from the 
present usage? 

155. To wind : in winding. See note on 1. 127, above. 
Circumstance: circumlocution; cp. Hamlet, I, v, 127. 
"And so, without more circumstance at all, 

I hold it fit that we shake hands and part," (Quoted by CI.) 
157. Uttermost : my uttermost willingness to serve you. 

161. Prest: ready, an Old French word (modern form, pret), 
current in Elizabethan English, but now obsolete. Cp. Italian, 
Spanish, and Portuguese presto. 

162. Richly left: with rich inheritance. It must be admitted 
that Bassanio does not appear in a very favorable light here. 
Though Portia is "fair, and fairer than that word," yet this is 
mentioned as if of secondary importance to her wealth; and if 
we are to measure the value of her charms to him by their pre- 
cedence in order in his speech, they will stand: money, beauty, 
virtues. We must hope, however, that it is the business transac- 
tion that he is engaged in that is responsible for this attitude. 
If he has been lavish with his own and others' money, he has 
been generous. He has won the affection and esteem of many 
friends. Indeed, the dramatic situation of the play is due to the 
great love of the high-minded Antonio for him. He is ready to 
risk still more of the Merchant's money upon the desperate 
chance of repaying him from Portia's wealth, — if he should win 
her. We must believe that he would have done as much for 
his friend, had the situation been reversed. A certain gay reck- 



NOTES. 141 

lessness seems to have been the one great fault in an otherwise 
noble charaeter. 

164. Sometimes: in the past, formerly. This word and some- 
time are frequent in the English of the time in this sense. 

166,. 167. Undervalued to: inferior to. For the same expres- 
sion, see II, vii, 53, of this play. 

Brutus' Portia: CI. notes that she is described in North's 
translation of Plutarch (used by Shakespeare in writing his play 
Julius Caesar) "as being famous for 'chastity and greatness of 
mind,' and besides 'well seen in philosophy.' " 

Note the metrical stress upon the last syllable of the word, 
Portia, at the end of 1. 167, which in no way disturbs the word- 
accent. 

170. The type of beauty described is not the typical Italian; 
but, as G. points out, Shakespeare simply presents the type most 
pleasing to himself and other Englishmen. 

171 ff. Note how well the comparison is carried out. 

176. Mind presages: The subject relative is omitted, as often 
in Shakespeare. See Abbott, § 244. The relative as object is of- 
ten omitted in modern English, but as subject, much more rarely. 
Browning, however, frequently admits the construction. 

Thrift: thriving, success. Cp. "My well-won thrift," I, iii, 
51, this play. 

178 ff. CI. considers this inconsistent with what was said in 
II, 41 ff. But the charge seems hardly just, since Antonio's pro- 
perty, such as would be available for raising a sum of money im- 
mediately, might be at sea, though not "in one bottom trusted, 
Nor to one place," nor "Upon the fortune of this present year," 
and therefore apparently safe, although it could not be imme- 
diately converted into money. 

180. To raise: for raising. Gerund infinitive. 

184. Presently: immediately. 

186. Of obtaining it on my credit, or on account of personal 
friendship to me. 

To have: Another example of the gerund infinitive. It will 
not be necessary to note other instances of this construction : but 



142 NOTES. 

the student may note them as marking an interesting change in 
usage. 

SCENE II. 

In commenting on Nerissa's position in Portia's household, G. 
cites Miss Latham (Trans. New Shaksp. Soc, i887-92ff.), who 
shows that the waiting-women in the plays are to be "sharply 
divided into gentlewomen and domestic servants." It was cus- 
tomary, as she shows, for yourtg ladies of position to be sent to 
wait upon other young ladies of rank superior to their own, and 
they were then looked upon rather as companions than as ser- 
vants. To this class belonged Nerissa. 

The same commentator remarks : "The antithesis and general 
style" (in the dialogue between Portia and Nerissa) "remind one 
of Euphuism, a very proper thing when one remembers that 
Euphues was in the first instance a book for ladies." This arti- 
ficial style, of which Euphues was only one example, was widely 
current in the early Elizabethan period throughout Europe, but 
was soon relegated to its proper place as a passing and past fash- 
ion. Look up the subject of Euphuism. Jusserand's The Eng- 
lish Novel in the Time of Shakespeare and Arber's reprint of 
Euphues will be valuable in this connection and otherwise, and 
may be found in most good libraries. It will be observed that 
Portia and Nerissa express their antitheses and conceits in prose, 
and very properly, since such a style is not suited to verse. 

I. This scene, like the preceding, begins with a reference to the 
sadness of the principal personage. But Portia's sadness is less 
ominous than Antonio's. She had, however, reason enough for 
depression in the uncertainty of her fate, which depended upon 
the lottery of the caskets. 

5. It will be interesting to note how well the antitheses, bal- 
ance, and conceits are carried out. 

7. No mean: so the quartos. The folios have "no small,'" 
thus missing the play upon words, a serious objection just here. 

II. Sentences: maxims; cp. the Latin sententiae. 

17. Easier: adjective for adverb, as often in Shakespeare. See 
Abbott, § 1. 



NOTES. 143 

23. Reasoning: philosophising. The folios have "reason," evi- 
dently an error. 

25, 26. Whom— whom : the reading of the folios ; the quartos 
have who — who, "as Shakespeare very probably wrote," remarks 
CI., "for he frequently uses who in the objective case." This 
practice represents the tendency to obliterate all case distinctions 
in the general breaking down of all inflections that took place 
during and after the Anglo-Saxon period. Cp. the use of you as 
a nominative case instead of ye, from the 15th century on. 

28, 29. Nor refuse none: The double negative was good usage 
in Old English, and was still common in Elizabethan English. 
Its persistence in the speech of the illiterate no doubt represents 
a native impulse. 

32-34. Here we have a device necessitated by the limitations of 
the drama. The explanation of the three caskets is not required 
for Portia, but it is useful to the audience. 

31. The "good inspirations" tend to take away the erudeness of 
having the chance selection result inevitably as the plot requires. 

35> 36. Will, no doubt, never be chosen by any rightly but 
one who shall rightly love : This reading is that of the CI. ed., 
with the exception of the omission of a comma before "but." The 
first part stands in the first quarto : "no doubt you will never be 
chosen;" the last part reads in the second quarto and in the 
folios: "but one who you shall rightly love." Each authority 
being, then, in part faulty, the reasonable portion of each was 
taken, and a probably correct text constructed. That is, in the 
first part, the second quarto and the folios have been followed; 
in the last part/ the first quarto is accepted. 

40. I pray thee: The pronoun of the second person singular 
was used in early English in addressing intimate friends and 
relatives, persons in inferior positions, and those held in contempt. 
The usage in thfe Elizabethan period may not be reduced to quite 
such definite rules, the same person being sometimes addressed, 
now with the singular form, and now with the plural. Portia 
addresses Nerissa also as "you," see 1. 73, below ; but Nerissa does 



144 NOTES. 

not use the "thou" to Portia. For a full treatment of this usage 
in Shakespeare, see Abbott, §§231-235. 

42. Level at : guess at. 

43. "The Neapolitans, in the time of Shakespeare, were emi- 
nently skilled in all that belongs to horsemanship." — Steevens. So 
Portia names qualities and faults more or less correctly associated 
with the different nationalities. Is there any impropriety in 
Shakespeare's making "a colt" "talk of his horse?" 

49. County Palatine, i. e., Count Palatine. The title was 
originally applied to an officer attached to the palace of a king or 
an emperor, and enjoying certain special privileges. In Germany, 
it was applied especially to the lords of the Palatinate. The first 
quarto has Palatine ; the other quartos and the folios have Palen- 
tine. 

51. Various explanations have been offered of this passage. 
It appears to mean that the Count, a truculent fellow, frowns ag- 
gressively, and seems to imply : "If you will not have me, then 
you may choose as best you can." A. suggests that the words 
may threaten a duel, and mean : "If you will not have me, choose 
your weapon." 

53. Weeping philosopher: Heraclitus of Ephesus, often con- 
trasted with Democritus of Abdera, the Laughing Philosopher. 

55. Had rather: This expression is, and has always been, good 
English. Had is a subjunctive; rather is the comparative of 
rathe, meaning "early," "soon"; and the expression may be para- 
phrased: "I should hold it preferable." The folios insert to 
before be. 

58. By : in regard to. Cp. II, ix, 26, of this play, and Abbott, 
§145. 

65. Throstle: thrush. Pope's emendation. The quartos and 
the first folio have "trassell ;" the second folio, "tarssell;" the 
third and fourth, "tassell." 

66. A capering: Here "a" is an abbreviation of "an," Old 
English for "on," and "capering" is a verbal noun. Cp. "a-hunt- 
ing," "a-fishing." 

73. Latin: In Shakespeare's time and still later, Latin was in 



NOTES. 145 

general use as a means of communication for persons speaking 
different languages, in the Church, and in international transac- 
tions. 

77. Proper: handsome." 

78. Dumb-show : pantomime ; here, one of the silent figures in 
the pantomime. 

79. Suited: dressed. 

80. Doublet : a short, close-fitting coat. 

Round hose : breeches padded out till they kept a round shape. 

81. Bonnet: cap; so called from the material from which it 
was made. In Scotland a man's cap is still called a bonnet. 

83. Scottish lord:, the reading of the quartos, printed before 
the accession of the Scottish James I. The folio of 1623, for ob- 
vious reasons, changed "Scottish" to "other." 

89. Sealed under for another, i. e., for another box on the 
ear. This carries out the figure. As CI. explains : "The principal 
was said to seal to a bond ; his surety sealed under." Cp. I, iii, 
145 : "I'll seal to such a bond." The French and the Scots had 
long had a bond of sympathy in their common hostility to the 
English, and they had often been allies against the latter. Such 
a hit as this was sure to please an English audience. 

93, 94- Drunk : The different Germanic peoples were noted as 
hard drinkers. Cp. Othello, II, iii, 76ft: "Your Dane, your Ger- 
man, and your swag-bellied Hollander,— Drink ho !— are nothing 
to your English," cited by CI. 

99- You should refuse: We should say: "You would refuse." 
For this construction, see Abbott, § 322. 

102. Contrary: wrong. 

107. The having any: In modern usage, the verbal noun in 
—ing takes the preposition of after it, while the participle does not. 
In Shakespeare the preposition is often omitted; cp. II, ii, 82: 
"The knowing me." 

109. Which is: The strict construction would be "which are;" 
but, as their determinations are all one, the construction becomes 
justifiable. 

in. Sort: lot, lottery, as in Troilus and Cressida, I, iii, 376: 



146 NOTES. 

"Let blockish Ajax draw the sort to fight with Hector." Some 
editors prefer the meaning, "manner," "method," or "kind." 

112. Imposition: condition imposed. 

114. Sibylla: There are several Sibyls in ancient mythology, 
but the most famous, the Cumaean, is, without doubt, the one re- 
ferred to here as a type of extreme age. 

119. I pray God grant: This reading of the quartos was 
changed in the folio to "I wish them," probably because of the 
law of 1605 : "For the preventing and avoiding of the great abuse 
of the holy Name of God in Stage-playes." This law was an ex- 
pression of the rising Puritan power. Not all such expressions, 
however, were changed. 

122. A scholar and a soldier: This is a pleasant addition to 
the character of Bassanio, who, when all has been said, has left 
the impression hitherto of being primarily a spendthrift and a 
fortune-seeker. 

123. A. notes that the Marquises of Montferrat were famous 
warriors and generals in Italy for centuries. 

I27ff. Let us hope that these words indicate a basis of respect 
and regard that justifies Bassanio's success in his suit. 

133. The four strangers: As has been often noted, this 
should be six. It is interesting guessing whether the fault was 
Shakespeare's or the editors' ; but the solution is, perhaps, im- 
possible. The suggestion of an earlier play as a basis of Shakes- 
peare's, or of an earlier draft of this play, with only four suitors 
mentioned, and then an addition of two others, without a cor- 
responding change here, is interesting. 

i4off. A saintly father-confessor, though black, would be better 
than a black husband, though saintly. 

scene hi. 

Mark the dramatic effect of the change from the end of the last 
scene to the beginning of this. After a short interval, the cur- 
tain is drawn, and we are looking no longer upon the beautiful 
Portia and her attendant, and listening to their light euphuistic 
comment upon the suitors; but we have now before us the omi- 



NOTES. ■ 147 

nous figure of Shylock with all its suggestion of coming disaster. 

A great mass of literature has grown up around the figure oi 
Shylock, and a multitude of ingenious interpretations of the 
purpose of the author in presenting this great creation to us may 
be had ready-made. But to this editor, it seems best for the stu- 
dent, after intelligent, faithful study, to determine for himself 
what manner of man the character represents ; whether he is, in- 
deed, to be taken as an individual or as a type, etc. Afterwards 
he may read what others have concluded, and his own opinions 
may be confirmed, or may be modified. For a selection of the best 
of such comments, see V., pp. 425-435. 

There has been some question, too, as to how the poet obtained 
his knowledge of the character, manners, and practises of the 
Jews. The Jews had been expelled from England in 1290, in the 
reign of Edward I., and the ban was not removed until 1650. 
There is evidence enough, however, that Jews did live and die, 
too, in England in Shakespeare's time; see reference to Lopez in 
the Introduction. For a full discussion of this point, see V., p. 
359ff. 

Farmer conjectured that the name, Shylock, was derived from 
a pamphlet called "Caleb Shillocke his Prophecie, or the Jewes 
Prediction ;" but, as CI. points out, "it is uncertain whether it was 
printed before or after the production of our play." 

1. There is some uncertainty as to the exact value of the ducat, 
since it varied with time and place. Coryat, who was in Venice 
in 1608, places the value of the Venetian ducat at 4s. 8d. Halli- 
well, upon the authority of Roberts's Marchanfs Mapp of Com- 
merce (1638), names one kind of ducat worth about 3s. 4d., and 
another worth 4s. or 4s. 2d. Any of these values must be in- 
creased many times to get an equivalent in modern money. Cer- 
tainly the sum was meant to be a very large one. 

4. The which : The addition of a demonstrative form to rela- 
tive words that were originally interrogative in character, is com- 
mon in older English. Cp. "When that," Chaucer's Prologue to 
the Canterbury Tales, 1. 1 ; also French lequel. 



i 4 8 NOTES. 

7. May., .will., .shall: Note the force of each auxiliary. 
May has the meaning of are you able? 

17, 18. In supposition : in uncertainty. 

Tripolis : The authorities differ as to whether the city in Bar- 
bary in north Africa, or the Syrian seaport is meant. It is really 
a matter of small importance. We need think only of a port in 
the distant east. 

20. Rialto : This name was applied to an island, to the bridge 
joining it with the St. Mark's quarter of the city, and to the mer- 
chants' exchange situated at the end of the bridge farthest from 
St. Mark's. Shylock may have referred to the bridge or to the 
exchange. 

22. Squandered : scattered, the original sense of the word. 

30. I will be assured : Shylock speaks cautiously, and, at the 
same time, finds pleasure, without doubt, in continuing Bassanio's 
anxiety when the transaction seemed almost concluded. 

33. To dine with us : Bassanio must indeed have been 
thoughtless, since he would not, under the circumstances, have 
ventured the invitation out of malice. 

35. Nazarite: Nazarine, which form occurs first in the au- 
thorized version of the Bible in 161 1. See Matthew, viii. 28-32. 

42. Fawning publican : A much discussed phrase. The publi- 
cans were officials who farmed the taxes under the Roman gov- 
ernment, and were often oppressive in making their collections. 
They were objects of special detestation to the Jews at the time 
of their subjection to Rome. The name became one of contempt 
and reproach ; cp. "publicans and sinners," Matt. ix. 10. So Shy- 
lock might, without any consideration of parallelism, apply the 
term to Antonio in gratifying his feeling of hatred. A. thinks 
that Zaccheus, the publican, who gave half his goods to the poor, 
may have suggested the epithet; Elze, that the poet had in mind 
the parable of the arrogant Pharisee and the humble publican: 
Luke, xviii. 10-14. Antonio was sad and depressed, and without 
doubt showed this condition in his outward appearance ; and the 
appellation becomes, in this light, apposite. While Shylock might 
not be familiar with the New Testament, Shakespeare and his 



NOTES. 149 

audience were. Note the change to verse with the greater in- 
tensity of the action. 

43. For: because, as often in Shakespeare. Cp. for that, next 
line. See Abbott, § 151. 

44. Low simplicity: foolish humility. 

46. Usance: interest. The lending of money at interest, 
though legal in England at Shakespeare's time, was still regarded 
as disreputable and cruel. The Jews were, partly by inclination, 
perhaps, and partly of necessity, since this was almost the only 
pursuit open to them, pre-eminently the money-lenders of Europe. 

47. Upon the hip: an expression borrowed from the phrase- 
ology of wrestlers. If one wrestler could get his opponent across 
his hip, he had him at a great disadvantage. See how the applica- 
tion is reversed in IV, i, 334. Cp. also Othello, II, i, 313. 

51. Thrift: profits, as often elsewhere in this play. See 82- 
83 below. 

52. Interest: with about the force of "usury" in our English. 
60. Rest you fair : Shylock pretends now first to perceive 

Antonio's presence. He finds pleasure in making him wait to 
be noticed. 

63. Excess: "I neither take interest when I lend, nor give it 
when I borrow." 

64. Ripe wants : wants that must be immediately supplied. 

65. 66. Is he yet possessed How much ye would.? Is he in- 
formed how much you wish? The reading of the text is that of 
the second quarto. The first quarto has : "Are you resolv'd How 
much he would have?" The first folio reads: "Is he yet pos- 
sess'd How much he would?" 

74. As: so. See Genesis, xxv. 29-34; xxvii. 1-29. 

75. Ay, he was the third: He was so only by his mother's 
fine management. 

79. Compromised: had come to an agreement. This was the 
original force of the word. See Skeat's Etymological Dictionary. 

80. Eanlings: new-born lambs; from ean or yean, to bring 
forth. 

Pied : parti-colored. 



150 NOTES. 

90. Mark you this : This passage is an aside to Bassanio. 

97. Three months from twelve: Shylock is, or pretends to 
be, engaged in calculations. 

98. Beholding: beholden, as frequently in the English of the 
time. See Abbott, § 372. 

102. Still: always. 

Patient shrug. CI. remarks, very appositely: "Shakespeare 
perhaps remembered Marlowe's Jew of Malta, act ii, sc. 2, vol. i, 
p. 269, ed. Dyce : 

'I learn'd in Florence how to kiss my hand, 
Heave up my shoulders when they call me dog.' " 

103. Tribe : here used of the Jewish race ; cp. also 1. 52, above. 
105. Gaberdine: "a long, loose outer garment." It was not 

peculiar to the Jews, the yellow cap being their distinctive mark. 

108. Go to : here an exclamation of impatience, but also used 
to express other emotions. 

109. You say so: Note the indignant emphasis upon you. 
116. Bondman's key: a slave's tone. 

127. A breed of : The reading of the folios ; the quartos have 
"a breed for." This is according to Aristotle's argument against 
usury, that money, being barren metal, cannot multiply itself 
naturally. Antonio has in mind, without doubt, Shylock's argu- 
ment from the analogy of Jacob's procedure. 

129. Who: This loose construction of the relative is not un- 
common with the older authors, and a similar irregularity may 
be heard in the speech of the illiterate of the present day. CI. 
cites from Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Bk. ii, 10, 12 : 
"Which, though it be not true, yet I forbear to note any de- 
ficiencies." 

Break: probably for "break his day," as in 1. 156. Cp. The 
Jew of Malta, I, ii, 158 : "For if we break our day, we break the 
league." 

130. Note Shylock's change of tone. Why was it? 
133. Doit: a coin worth half a farthing. 

136. This were kindness : Bassanio feels a natural suspicion. 



NOTES. 151 

138. Your single bond, i. c, with your single signature, with- 
out security. This apparently generous offer was, of course, only 
to enable Shylock to exact the penalty from Antonio himself, 
and the tragic situation turned just upon this point, that no one 
else, Shylock being unwilling, could pay the debt. 

141. Condition: contract. 

142. Nominated : stated ; cp. IV, i, 259. 

For: unnecessary to the sense, but may have come from the 
practice of placing it before the specified price of a thing. One 
may sell an apple for a penny, though, of course, one does say 
the price is for a penny. 

Equal: exact. 

153. What: used indefinitely for "what people," or the like. 

154. Dealings teaches : The plural form, dealings, seems to 
be conceived as a collective, dealings being equal to practice. 
The usual explanation, that teaches is a "northern plural," is 
doubtful. It seems unlikely that Shakespeare should have felt 
the influence of this construction in a few places and not in 
others. 

156. Break his day: fail to meet his obligation. Cp. 1. 129, 
above. 

159. Estimable : For the slurring of the syllables of this word 
in this verse, see Abbott, § 495. The verse need not be consid- 
ered an hexameter, since the word estimable seems to have re- 
ceived only one stress, the syllables after the first being slurred. 

161. How naturally Shylock's expressions suggest commercial 
transactions. His conception of friendship is not a high one. 

163. For my love: There may be some doubt as to the exact 
meaning here. The probable sense is : "Do not, in return for my 
love, ascribe wrong motives to me." V. suggests : "Do not, for 
my love's sake, hereafter maltreat me." 

168. Fearful : to be feared ; not to be trusted. See Abbott, 3. 

169. Knave : This word, from the Old English cnapa, meant 
originally boy, like the kindred German knabc. This meaning is 
frequent in Shakespeare. Cp. Twelfth Night, IV, ii, 22: "The 



152 NOTES. 

knave counterfeits well, a good knave." The modern sense is 
also common, and it is with this meaning, apparently, that Shy- 
lock uses it. However, Shylock recommends Launcelot; see II, 
ii, 132, 133. 

172. Bassanio shows more discernment than Antonio, but he 
does not emphasize his distrust enough to break off the transac- 
tion. 

Terms: language, words; or, V. suggests, "May it not refer to 
the bond?" 

What progress has been made in this act in the development of 
the plot? What characters have been introduced, and how far 
have you been made acquainted with the distinctive qualities of 
the principal figures? 

ACT II. 

We are to understand that Antonio has signed the bond. Three 
months are to intervene before it falls due. The stage illusion of 
the passing of this time is well maintained by means of the 
further development in this act of the casket story and the pre- 
sentation of the details of the elopement of Lorenzo and Jessica. 
No doubt, too, the large number of short scenes in the act, and 
the corresponding frequent change in the place of the action con- 
tribute to the reconciliation of the historical and the dramatic 
times. 

scene 1. 

The stage direction in the first folio is: "Enter Morochus, a 
tawnie Moore all in white, and three or four followers accord- 
ingly, with Portia, Nerissa, and their traine." 

1. Complexion : used here in the modern sense. The word is 
to be pronounced as of four syllables, with a secondary accent 
on the ultimate. 

6. Make incision, i. e., let us draw blood by wounding our- 
selves. 

7. Reddest: Red blood was supposed to indicate courage and 
high lineage. Cp. also "blue blood" as indicating high birth. 



NOTES. 153 

8. Aspect : with accent on the last syllable. See Abbott, 
§490. 

9. Fear'd: frightened. CI. cites Measure for Measure, II, 
i, 2: 

"We must not make a scarecrow of the law, 
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey." 

12. Thoughts : regard, affection. 

13. Terms of choice: "with respect to the choice; in my 
choice," Schmidt. Cp. "In my terms of honor, I stand aloof." 
Hamlet, V, ii, 249. 

14. Nice: fastidious. 

17. Scanted: placed limits upon. 

18. Wit: wisdom, the old meaning of the word. 

20. Stood: Note the compactness of the subjunctive construc- 
tion. 

Fair: Surely a pun on the Moor's complexion. Of course, 
from Portia's point of view, these words convey no compli- 
ment, — see I, ii, above ; but to the Moor they do, and upon 
the audience his thanks produce a comic effect. 

24. This line and the following present some difficulty. Sophy, 
under various spellings, was a common title of the Shah of 
Persia at Shakespeare's time; cp. Twelfth Night, II, v, 197, and 
III, iv, 307. Thus it is conceivable that "the Sophy and a Persian 
prince" might designate one person, as some editors seem to 
assume. However, it seems more likely that two persons are 
meant. The Moor's boast gains in rotundity by this interpreta- 
tion ; moreover, the first folio places a comma after "Sophy," 
which is retained in this text as bearing out this interpretation. 

26. Sultan Solyman : The reference is probably to "the un- 
fortunate campaign which Solyman the Magnificent undertook 
against the Persians in 1535." — CI. 

27. Outstare: The reading of the first quarto. The second 
quarto and the folios have ore-stare. 

29. Note the effect of the trochaic movement at the beginning, 
and the spondaic movement at the end of this strutting line. 



154 NOTES. 

31. Alas the while: alas for the times and the conditions 
which they impose. Similarly, many other condensed construc- 
tions, as "Woe the while," Winter's Tale, III, ii, 173. 

32. Lichas: Hercules' attendant. See Classical Dictionary. 
35. Alcides : patronymic for Hercules, since he was a de- 
scendant of Alcaeus, the son of Perseus and Andromeda. 

Page: Theobold's emendation for rage in the quartos and 
folios. 

42. Advised: deliberate. — Schmidt. 

43. Nor will not : It is hardly necessary to explain the double 
negative here or elsewhere in Shakespeare as being used for em- 
phasis, since the construction had been good native English, and 
was not yet obsolete. 

44. Temple: "Must not the poet have written table f"— 
Keightley. The suggestion seems not unlikely. Otherwise the 
house chapel must be meant, where the Moor would take the 
oath. 

46. Blest or cursed'st: Both adjectives are to be regarded as 
superlatives. V. notes that "there is the sound of a superlative 
in blest which satisfies the ear." The same authority cites from 
Walker other instances where Shakespeare attaches to one ad- 
jective alone a termination that belongs to several. Cp. Measure 
for Measure, IV, vi, 13 : "The generous and greater citizens." 
So also, III, ii, 289, of this play. 

SCENE 11. 

The old stage direction was : "Enter the Clowne alone." 
"Launcelot is not a professional jester like the Fools in King 
Lear, Tzvelfth Night, and As You Like It, but a servant by trade, 
and a wag by humour" — A. The discourse of Launcelot and his 
father is, of course, scarcely suited for blank verse. 

1. Will serve: HalliwelPs suggestion that not has fallen out 
before serve seems likely. Conscience certainly opposes Launce- 
lot's running away, while the fiend favors it. But G. thinks 
that Launcelot speaks with "a kind of coaxing doubt : 'Surely my 
conscience will serve me, do as I wish/ " 



NOTES. 155 

10. Scorn running with thy heels: "With thy heels" is to 
be taken with "scorn," though something of a pun may be in- 
tended. Cp. Much Ado About Nothing, III, iv, 51 : "I scorn that 
with my heels." 

12. Via : An Italian word, meaning "away," used as a term of 
encouragement to horses and to men. See V. 

13. For the heavens : for heaven's sake. Note the propriety 
of this exclamation from the fiend. 

20. Grow to : Perhaps CI. is right in the suggestion : A house- 
hold phrase, applied to milk when burnt to the bottom of the 
saucepan, and thence acquiring an unpleasant taste." However, 
"Have an inclination to" would make about as good sense. 

24. "Fiend/" say I, "you counsel well" : The first quarto has 
"counsel ill." 

25. To be ruled, i. e., being ruled by, or, if I be ruled by. For 
this use of the infinitive, see Abbott, § 356. Cp. also I. 27, below. 

26. God bless the mark : Apparently an expression used by 
way of apology for a remark of doubtful propriety, — here for 
naming the Devil. Its origin is obscure. 

29. Saving your reverence: begging your pardon. Similar, 
in purpose, to "God bless the mark" above. Cp. also 1. 139, below. 

30. Incarnal: The reading of the first quarto. The other 
quartos, the folios, and some other texts have incarnation. The 
difference is immaterial, since either form represents the fre- 
quent blunders of Shakespeare's clowns and certain other char- 
acters in the use of words of Latin origin, which were flooding 
the English language in the Elizabethan period. Cp. especially 
the verbose Dogberry, in Much Ado About Nothing, and Bot- 
tom, in Midsummer Night's Dream. 

39. Sand-blind: half-blind. Supposed to be a corruption, 
simulating sand (as if having eyes blurred by little grains or 
specks), of an unrecorded sam-blind, half-blind, from A.-S. sam, 
Lat. semi. — Century Dictionary. It is not impossible that stone- 
blind was a popular extension of the figure, just as was Launce- 
lot's invention, high-gravel blind, though this is not, of course, 
the usually accepted derivation. 



156 NOTES. 

40. Try confusions: The first quarto has "conclusions"; cp. 
Hamlet, III, iv, 195; but the other early editions have "con- 
fusions." Here the correct form seems the incorrect reading. 
However, Launcelot did certainly "try confusions" with his 
father. 

46. Marry: A common exclamation, for Mary! (or Maria!), 
i. e., the Virgin. 

48. Sonties: saints; the form is most likely a diminutive of 
saunt, Scotch, and perhaps English, also, for saint, used as a 
term of endearment. — P. Other explanations have been offered, 
such as the derivation from sante, or from sanctities. 

53. Waters: tears; or, it may be, the expression means, "raise 
a storm." While Launcelot distresses his father, he enjoys the 
fun of making the old man give him the title of Master, due by 
right only to gentlemen. 

56. Well to live: V. interprets, "with every prospect of a 
long life"; but the meaning, "well to do," seems more likely, the 
inconsistency with what precedes being in keeping with Gobbo's 
wisdom. 

59. A' : he ; a colloquial contraction frequent in Shakespeare. 
See Schriiidt. The form was used at Chaucer's time, and is still 
to be heard in some parts of England. 

61. And Launcelot, i, c., "plain Launcelot, and not, as you 
term him, Master Launcelot." — Malone. 

62. Ergo: Launcelot's learning, no doubt, impresses the old 
man deeply. 

64. An : if. 

65. Ergo, Master Launcelot: Launcelot has proved satis- 
factorily (to himself) his right to the title of Master. 

67. Father: A common form of address to old men, and 
Gobbo understands it merely as such. 

68. Launcelot is "trying confusions" indeed with the old man. 
It is not unlikely that Shakespeare is parodying here the exces- 
sive use of classical allusions so common at the time. 

99. Thou : Gobbo, before recognizing his son, uses the more 
respectful you, but now drops into the familiar thou, though 



NOTES. 157 

Launcelot continues the more formal term. Cp. Abbott, §§ 231- 

235. 

101. Beard: "Stage tradition, not improbably from the time 
of Shakespeare himself, makes Launcelot, at this point, kneel 
with his back to the sand-blind old Father, who, of course, mis- 
takes his long back hair for a beard, of which his face is per- 
fectly innocent." Staunton, quoted in V. 

102. Fill-horse : The reading of most modern editions, for the 
phil-korse of the second quarto and the folios, and the pilhorse 
of the first quarto. The fills or thills were the shafts of vehicles. 
R. G. White and V. note that phill-horse for shaft-horse is still 
in use in the rural districts of New England and Pennsylvania. 

105. Of his tail: Cp. on his tail, 1. 102, above. We see that 
of and on were used in much the same sense in designating local 
relations. Cp. Abbott, § 176, for other examples. 

in. Set up my rest: I am resolved. Most commentators de- 
rive the expression from a game Of cards, Primero, and under- 
stand it to mean to risk heavily upon the cards held. Others 
find a reference to a soldier's setting up a support or rest for 
his heavy matchlock when he would fire it. Then Launcelot 
would say in effect : "Here I take my stand to run away," which 
would not be out of keeping with his paradoxical mode of 
speech. Cp. Romeo and Juliet, V, iii, 109, for the expression 
used in a very different strain : 

"O here 
Will I set up my everlasting rest." 

116. Give me your present: Me is the old dative of the 
person interested, surviving in such expressions as -"Do me a 
kindness." See Abbott, § 220. 

117. Rare new liveries: This helps to explain why Bassanio 
was obliged to borrow money. 

120. I am a Jew : Apparently a common expression, implying 
contempt for the Jews. Cp. Much' Ado About Nothing, II, iii, 
264 : "If I do not love her, I am a Jew" ; cited by CI. 



158 NOTES. 

122. The hours for meals at the time of Shakespeare differed 
greatly from those of the present time. The dinner hour was at 
noon, or before. Among the first uses Bassanio seems to have 
made of the money obtained from Shylock was to feast his 
friends with it. See 11. 180-181, below. 

127. Launcelot seems to have been a mixture of clownish 
shyness and audacity. 

129. Gramercy ! For French grand merci, great thanks. 

130. The practice on the stage is for Launcelot here to inter- 
rupt the old man, turn him quickly around, and himself take up 
the broken thread of the discourse. But when his own eloquence 
fails him, as it does very quickly, he at once wheels the old 
man again into position, only again to spin him around when he 
himself feels a new inspiration ; and so on, to the astonishment 
of all present. Of course it is not necessary to mention all the 
sad work the two make with their words. 

140. Cater-cousins : The meaning of the passage is clear : 
They are scarcely on intimate terms. But the origin of the 
phrase is obscure. Johnson in his Dictionary and Schmidt and 
others assume quatre cousin as the original form ; but CI. points 
out that quatre cousin is not and never was French. Hales sug- 
gests that the origin may be found in cate, cater, acater, and 
that the term means about mess-fellows; this is ai least a work- 
ing theory. 

143. Frutify : apparently means certify. CI. quotes Bishop's 
conjecture that in 1. 138 we should read "spicify" for "specify," 
and adds : "If so, Launcelot's language is affected by recollec- 
tions of the pantry." If so, we should read, "fruitify." 

156. Preferred : recommended. Bassanio plays upon the double 
meaning of the word. Shylock's motive in preferring Launcelot 
will become apparent in II, v, 46-51. 

159. Old proverb : "The proverb referred to is, 'The grace of 
God is better than riches'; or, in the Scot's form, "God's grace 
is gear enough' " — Staunton. 

165. More guarded: more trimmed; ornamented. So called, 
because facings or strips, usually of a color different from the 



NOTES. 159 

rest of the garment, were sewed upon exposed or weak parts of 
liveries to protect or strengthen them. Here the reference is to 
the special guards, usually yellow, that were sewed on the live- 
ries of jesters. Cp. Henry VIII, Prol. 16: 

"A fellow 
In a long motley coat guarded with yellow." 

166. Father, in : This has been interpreted to mean : "Father, 
go in." But it is not clear into what Gobbo should go, unless it 
were Shylock's house or Bassanio's, and there is nothing to make 
this clear. It is possible that Launcelot, in his triumph, means: 
"Father, I am in !" i. e., in the service I was trying to attain. 

168. Table: the palm of the hand. It is generally conceded 
that something is wrong in this passage, even after taking 
Launcelot's eccentricities into account. Many emendations and 
interpretations have been offered, most of which may be found in 
the V. note to this word. Perhaps the most probable suggestion 
is that offered by Allen, and approved by Furness : "Well, if any 
man in Italy have a fairer table! which doth (equivalent, as in 
Greek or Latin, to 'for it doth') offer to swear, &c." That is, 
he holds up his hand, in the position of one about to swear, and, 
examining its lines, says it promises good fortune as certainly 
as if it were laid upon the Bible in the taking of an oath. 

170. Simple line: in palmistry, a poor line; said ironically, of 
course. 

172. Eleven: The first quarto has eleven; the other quartos, 
the folios, and many texts have the word spelled with initial a, 
and with other variations. 

173. Coming-in : income, revenue — Schmidt. 
177. Gear: See note to I, 1, no. 

180. Bestowed : on board ship for Belmont, as V. notes. 

185. Signior Bassanio : "The respect which BassanioVfriends 
have for him appears in the way in which they address him. 
Cp. I, i, 69: 'My Lord Bassanio,' etc." — A. Such hints are of 
value to us in making up our estimate of Bassanio's character. 



160 NOTES. 

190. Hear thee: The pronoun here, in spite of its form, is 
subject, not object. As the dative you supplanted the nomina- 
tive ye as subject-form, thee showed a strong tendency in the 
Elizabethan times to supplant thou, a part, perhaps, of a general 
tendency to obliterate all distinctions of case form ; cp. "Me and 
him went fishing," in the speech of the illiterate. This con- 
fusion of case forms in the second person has been ascribed to 
the weakening of unstressed vowels; but this surely would not 
explain the change from ye to you. No doubt, the frequency 
of the use of these datives with impersonals contributed to their 
general use as nominatives. 

195. Liberal : free, wanton. 

200. Habit : deportment, probably with a play upon the sense, 
garb. 

205. Civility: propriety. 

206. Sad ostent : serious appearance : Note how well the 
passage prepares us for the Gratiano we are to find in the play. 

scene III. 

So skilfully has Shakespeare interwoven the thread of Lorenzo 
and Jessica's love story with the main thread, at the same time 
maintaining its subordinate relation, that the interest is never dis- 
tracted from the principal figures, and the unity is not disturbed. 
Moreover, the incident is of great value to the play as a whole, 
as giving us additional light upon Shylock's character, and still 
further embittering him against the Christians. It contributes an 
important part, too, to one of the most exquisite scenes in this 
or any other drama. 

5. Soon at supper: Schmidt assumes that this expression 
means "this very night," and cites a number of parallel expres- 
sions in support of his contention. However, the ordinary 
meaning, "before long," seems more likely here. 

10. Exhibit : We might naturally assume that Launcelot means 
"prohibit" (Halliwell), or "inhibit" (CI.), or anything but "ex- 
hibit"; but Eccles' suggestion: "My tears express what my 



NOTES. 161 

tongue should," seems not improbable. Launcelot might blunder 
into correct expression. 

14. Jessica may not be utterly without filial feeling; but she is 
nearly so. 

19. Strife : between love for Lorenzo and duty to her father. 

SCENE IV. 

I. Lorenzo and the others are planning to slip off, disguise 
themselves, and return and surprise the others, who would not, 
perhaps, have noted their absence. Elze, quoted in V., points 
out that such features were very common at entertainments in 
Venice. CI. refers to the masking at Cardinal Wolsey's feast 
in Henry VIII, I, iv. 

5. Spoke us yet of: If this is the correct reading, the mean- 
ing is: "We have not yet bespoken torchbearers," us being in 
the dative. The fourth folio has as for us. Note the secondary 
accent falling on the last syllable of "torchbearers." 

6. Quaintly ordered : neatly, ingeniously contrived. 

II. Seem to signify. Note Launcelot's circumlocution, parody- 
ing the finical methods in the letter-writing of the day. 

17-18. Antitheses were much affected at the time, and Launce- 
lot but apes his betters. 

24. Provided of: provided with. Cp- Macbeth, I, ii, 13: "Sup- 
plied of kerns." See Abbott, § 171. 

27. Some hour: about an hour. See Abbott, §21. 

32. Note that none of those concerned have any scruple what- 
ever about robbing the Jew. 

38. Faithless: unbelieving, infidel. 

scene v. 

3. What, Jessica! What, like why and when, was used in 
calling impatiently. Cp. Julius Caesar, II, i, 1 : "What, Lucius, 
ho!" 

Gormandize : Shylock's view differs from Launcelot's, who 
declared that he had been famished. See II, ii, 114. 

12. Shylock's hesitation and foreboding heighten Jessica's 
anxiety, and increase the dramatic effect. 



162 NOTES. 

14. To feed upon : Shylock has declared that he will neither 
eat, drink, nor pray with the Christians ; see I, iii, 38. Steevens 
holds justly that this is no oversight of Shakespeare's, but that 
the Jew departs from his "resolve for the purpose of revenge." 

18. To-night : last night, as elsewhere in Shakespeare, though 
more generally in the modern sense; cp. 1. 2>7 of this scene. See 
Abbott, § 190. 

Reference has already been made to, the dramatic value of 
forebodings in the case of Antonio in the first scene of the first 
act. 

The superstition in regard to dreams about money is referred 
to in a passage quoted by CI. : "Some say that to dreame of 
money, and all kinde of coyne is ill." Artemidorous, The Judge- 
ment, or Exposition of Dreames, p. 99, ed. 1606. 

20. Reproach : Launcelot's mistake prepares the way almost 
too well for Shylock's rejoinder. 

22. Conspired : Of course, Launcelot refers merely to the mas- 
querade ; but to the audience the word suggests a second and 
more serious conspiracy. 

24ff. In this jumble of inconsequences, it is to be noted that the 
bleeding of the nose was considered an evil omen, and that Black- 
Monday was so called from the Monday after Easter in 1360, 
when the troops of Edward III, then besieging Paris, suffered 
terribly from the hail, mist, cold, and darkness. 

30. Wry-neck'd fife: There has been much discussion as to 
whether the instrument or the performer is meant here. The 
musician was undoubtedly often designated by the name of his 
instrument, as in a passage from the Spectator, cited by Pye (see 
V. note), where mention is made of a saucy trumpet and a drum 
that carried messages. Boswell quotes from Barnaby Rich's 
Aphorisms, 1616: "A fife is a wry-neckt musician, for he always 
looks away from his instrument." On the other hand, the old 
English fife, called Hute a bee, was provided with a peculiar 
mouth-piece, and might have been called wry-necked. For a 
complete discussion of the question, see the note to the line in V. 



NOTES. 163 

33. Varnished faces: painted masks; but Shylock probably 
implies also the falseness of Christians. 

36. Jacob's staff: See Genesis, xxx. 10, and Hebrews, xi. 21. 
"Commonly a Jacob's staff meant a pilgrim's staff, because St. 
James, or Jacob, was the patron saint of pilgrims." — P. Of course, 
not to be taken in this latter sense here. 

37. Of feasting : for feasting, we should say. See Abbott, 
§174. 

38. Sirrah : used in contemptuous address, though, at an 
earlier period, merely a form of sir. 

43. Will be worth a Jewess' eye: For the omission of the 
relative, see note on I, i, 176. The quartos and the first two folios 
read Iewes; the third and fourth folios, Jew's. Some understand 
the passage to refer to the large amount a Jew would pay to save 
himself from mutilation ; others that it indicated a thing of such 
value as to attract a Jew's attention. Perhaps the plainest in- 
terpretation is the best : worthy of the admiration of a Jewess. 

44. Hagar's offspring : gentile, outcast. See Genesis, xvi. 

46. Patch: fool, clown; probably so called from the motley 
clothes worn by jesters. Other derivations have been suggested, 
and it has been noted that Wolsey had" two clowns so named. But 
the name was probably given in that case for the reason assigned 
above. 

48. Wild cat: because the wild cat seeks its prey by night, 
and sleeps by day. 

50, 51. That. . . his: whose. This method of expressing rela- 
tive relations was common in the older English. G. cites Chau- 
cer's Knight's Tale, 185 1 ff. 

" . . . . namely oon (one), 
That with a spere was thirled (pierced) his brest-boon." 

52. Perhaps I will: Abbott, § 319, thinks will is used in this 
and in other expressions in Shakespeare with perhaps or per- 
chance, because uncertainty or hesitancy, half-inclination, we 
might say, is implied. In modern usage, however, we should 
expect shall. 



164 NOTES. 

SCENE VI. 

2. This line, divided between two speakers, is an Alexandrine, 
as not infrequently in Shakespeare. 

5. Venus' pigeons: the doves that drew her chariot. 
7. Obliged faith : pledged or plighted faith. 

9. That he sits down, i. e., that he sits down with. The 
omission of the preposition is common in Shakespeare. Cp. also 
1. 12, below. See Abbott, § 394. 

10. Untread again : retrace a long way he has traveled. Some, 
without sufficient reason, assume this to refer to the perform- 
ances of a trick-horse. 

14. Younker: The folios, quartos, and early editions have 
yotiger or younger. The present reading dates from Rowe. Cp. 
3 Henry VI, II, i, 24 : "Trimm'd like a younker, prancing to his 
love." The word implies youth and gaiety. See Skeat's Et. Dic- 
tionary for etymology. 

15. Scarfed : dressed with flags, and referring, too, perhaps, to 
the fresh, new sails. Note the beauty of the comparison, sus- 
tained through six lines. 

18. Over-weathered : weather beaten. The folios have over- 
wither'd. 

24. The line is generally regarded as metrically defective; but 
G.'s explanation, that approach may be regarded as having the 
value of a trisyllable, "like so many words with r" and that the 
pause before the word would itself compensate for the lacking 
syllable, seems satisfactory. 

30. Who : The neglect of the inflection of this word is common 
in Shakespeare. See Abbott, § 274. This seems but one illustra- 
tion of the general tendency, before noted, to give up all inflec- 
tions in English. This use of zvJw is not uncommon at the pres- 
ent day, and has the countenance of eminent authorities. See 
Sweet, "Short Historical English Grammar," §384; Jespersen's 
"Progress in Language," § 171, both cited by G. 

35. Exchange: exchange of woman's for boy's clothes. 

42. Too, too : This repetition of too was common, and gave ap- 



NOTES. 165 

parently an emphatic compound, with the accent on the second 
part, as in "This too, too solid flesh," Hamlet, I, ii, 129. 

Light: Note the play upon the word, implying both "evident"' 
and "improper." Cp. V, i, 129: "Let me give light, but let me 
not be light." 

43. Tis an office of discovery, i. c, the torchbearer's is. 

44. Should be: ought to be. Note the play upon "obscured." 
47. Close night : secret ; that serves to conceal. Cp. Mac- 
beth, III, v, 7, of the witches : 

"The close contriver of all harms." 

51. By my hood: CI. notes that this is found nowhere else in 
Shakespeare. But "By my head" is found, as in Troilus and 
Cressida, II, iii, 91, and "By my heel" in Romeo and Juliet, III, i, 
38. It was easy for Gratiano to substitute "hood" for "head," 
since the hood was a prominent part of his disguise. 

Gentile: The first folio and the second quarto have gentle, 
and a pun may be intended. 

52. Beshrew : curse. 

54. If that : For use of that, see Abbott, § 151. 

55. True: Does she deserve this praise? 

64. No masque to-night : Note that, though the plan is not 
carried out, yet it serves its purpose in the elopement of Jessica. 

scene vii. 

3. The situation is dramatic. Consider how important this 
choice was to be to both concerned. 

4. Who : Relative words are among the last to adapt them- 
selves to the successive changes in usage in living languages. 
Who and zvhich were interchanged in the time of Shakespeare, 
which being oftener used for who than the reverse. Who for 
which in Shakespeare generally implies personification, or at least 
power of motion or action (see Abbott, § 264) ; but this explana- 
tion does not apply here, when we note "silver, which"- in line 6, 
following. 

5. Note that the lines of the inscription are hexameters. The 

II 



166 NOTES. 

first folio, however, omits "many," by accident, making the line a 
pentameter, but restores it in 1. 37, following, and in ix, 24, of this 
act. 

12. Withal: "The emphatic form of with is used after the 
object at the end of the sentence." Abbott, § 196. 

20. Shows of dross : signs of base matter. 

22. Her: The feminine is used because, as indicated, silver, in 
consequence of its white color, is personified as a virgin. 

26. Thy estimation : the esteem, honor, accorded thee. It 
hardly means "Thy valuation of thyself," as has been suggested ; 
for Morocco would scarcely have thought of there being two 
opinions in this respect. 

29. Afeared : Rolfe notes that Shakespeare uses af eared 32 
times, and afraid 44 times. 

30. Disabling: disparaging. 

34. "In addition to these considerations, I deserve her by reason 
of my love." 

40. Shrine: in the sense of "image." See also Romeo and 
Juliet, I, v, 95, and Cymbeline, V, v, 164. 

Mortal-breathing: living. A double epithet. 

41. Hyrcanian deserts : "A district of indefinite extent south 
of the Caspian." — CI. It was supposed to be especially infested 
with tigers. 

43-47- " 'Portia' is here an incipient refrain to mark off a 
stanzaic arrangement of blank verse familiar to us in Tennyson's 
'Tears, Idle Tears' in The Princess." — G. Cp. also, the lines on 
Zenocrate, in Marlowe's Tambnrlaine, Part II, II, iv, cited in 
Professor K. L. Bates' ed. of the play. 

Come view : To is omitted, as often elsewhere : cp. "We'll come 
dress you straight." — Merry Wives, IV, ii, 81. See Abbott, § 349. 

46. Spirits : The word is commonly used to designate persons, 
when some quality, particularly courage, impetuosity, is empha- 
sized, as "These fiery spirits." — King John, V, ii, 114. But cp. 
also, "I wall not jump with common spirits," II, ix, 32, this play. 

50. It: lead. 

51. Rib: enclose. 



NOTES. 167 

Cerecloth : winding-sheet, so called because it was dipped in 
melted wax ; so also cerements; cp. Hamlet, I, iv, 48. 

Obscure: Note that the accent hovers, as usually in such 
words, — extreme, for instance — when they are followed by an ac- 
cented syllable. 

53. Ten times underrated : In 1600, this was the ratio, as is 
pointed out by CI. on the authority of the Encyc. Brit. 

, 56. Angel : a coin worth about 10s. at the time of Shakes- 
peare, showing upon one side Michael piercing the dragon. 
There were many quibbles upon the two meanings of the word. 
See Merry Wives, I, iii, 60; Much Ado, II, iii, 35, etc. Some 
trace this device to Pope Gregory's famous pun. 

57. Insculp'd upon: stamped upon the coin, as just stated; 
in relief. 

Upon and within, 1. 59, are in contrast. 

63. Carrion death : a fleshless skull. 

69. Tombs : Dr. Johnson's fine emendation for timber of the 
folios and quartos, which some have ingeniously interpreted as 
coffins. 

73. Cold : unsuccessful, as elsewhere. Cp. Two Gentlemen of 
Verona, IV, iv, 186 : "I hope my master's suit will be but cold.'' 

yy. Part: depart. 

scene viii. 

The course of events traced in Scene vi, is resumed in this 
scene, a night having intervened. 

4. Villain Jew : Although this phrase probably represents 
the attitude of the average Venetian, yet it is to be noted that 
the Duke himself responds to Shylock's demand for the assist- 
ance of the law in the recovery of his daughter. Despised as 
they were, the Jews were evidently a formidable power before 
the law. 

8. In a gondola : probably to throw their pursuers off the 
track. 

16. Fled with a Christian ! Consider what misery this ex- 
pressed. 

My Christian ducats ! The only things Christian that he 



168 NOTES. 

loved, and the more so because they had been won from Chris- 
tians. 

I9ff. "The hurrying and huddled metre corresponds admi- 
rably to the mood of Shylock."— G. 

25-26. Note the good dramatic effect of this. Antonio would 
have to pay this accumulating 'Christian debt to Shylock's re- 
venge. 

27. Reasoned: conversed, as frequently in Shakespeare. Cp. 
Cymbcline, IV, ii, 14: "I am not very sick, since I can reason 
of it." 

30. Fraught: freighted. We still use the form figuratively, 
as: "Fraught with danger." 

33. You were best: You in older English was the dative, and 
ye was the nominative; but in the working out of the tendency 
to the obliteration of distinction of case-form in English, the 
latter form fell into disuse, and the former assumed the func- 
tions of both. In the present instance, we have a survival of 
the older usage, since the expression is equivalent to "It were 
better for yon." It seems, however, that Shakespeare regarded 
you as in the nominative case. Cp. "I were best," V, i, 175 in 
this play, and often elsewhere. So also, "Thou'rt best." Tem- 
pest, I, ii, 366. See Abbott, § 239. 

39. Slubber: slur over. 

42. Mind of love: mind occupied with love affairs. "Loving 
mind," as referring to Bassanio's' love for Antonio, has been sug- 
gested as the meaning of the passage. Heath and others think 
that a comma should be placed after "mind," and that 
"of love" ,should be understood as "for love's sake." The inter- 
pretation given above is preferred, since Bassanio's love for Por- 
tia was, perhaps, at least as much a matter of mind as of heart. 

43. Employ: Dodd and Collier suggest apply. 

45. Conveniently : fitly, the radical sense. CI. cites Proverbs, 
xxx. 8: "Feed me with food convenient for me." 

48. Affection wondrous sensible: emotions wonderfully sen- 
sitive. Cp. Hamlet, IV, v, 150 : "Most sensibly in grief." 



NOTES. 169 

52. Embraced heaviness : sadness that he persists in. Cp. 

III, ii, 109; "Rash-embraced despair." 

SCENE IX. 

1. Straight : immediately, straightway. Cp. 1. 6, below. 
3. Election : selection, choice. 
Presently : immediately. 

18. Hazard : This word may 'be regarded as a noun or as a 
verb. Such situations may occur in a language so analytic as 
the English, where very often there is nothing in the form to 
distinguish one part of speech from another. 

19. Addressed me: prepared myself. 

25-26. Meant by : meant for. See Abbott, § 145, who cites from 
Jonson's Poetaster: 

"Lupus. Is not that eagle meant by Caesar, ha? 
Caesar. Who was it, Lupus, that informed you first 
This should be meant by us?" 
V. is of the opinion that "meant by" was the common idiom 
with the Elizabethans. 

27. Fond : foolish, as also III, iii, 9. 

28. Martlet: house martin. Cp. Macbeth, I, vi, 4: "The 
temple-haunting martlet." 

32. Jump: agree. Cp. Henry IV, I, ii, 78: "It jumps with my 
humor." 

38. Honorable: honored, of distinguished rank. Cp. 1 Henry 

IV, II, iv, 596 : "Thy place shall be honorable." 

41. Estates, degrees : distinctions, ranks. Note how glibly 
Arragon speaks these sentiments, which, coming from him, were 
mere platitudes. Make a comparison of his pride with Moroc- 
co's. 

44. Cover: wear their hats, not stand bareheaded, as before 
superiors. 

46. Peasantry : The quartos have "pleasantry." 

48. Ruin: refuse. 

49. New-varnished : Though the figure is changed suddenly, 
there is a gain in force. 



170 NOTES. 

51. Note the Alexandrine. V., with good reasoning, disap- 
proves of the attempt to reduce the line to a pentameter, for 
"Alexandrines are to be found in Shakespeare, and Alexandrines 
they will remain." 

53. V. notes that the editors fail to give credit to Capell for 
adding the Aside to the reading here. Without it, Portia's re- 
mark would have been malicious and out of keeping with her 
character. 

55. Schedule: "a piece of paper written on" — Schmidt. 

59. Fool's head: Note the irony of this. Arragon has just 
been speaking of the "fool multitude." 

61. G.'s explanation seems the most satisfactory here. It is, 
in effect : "Do not confuse the insult you find in the casket with 
my duty to enforce the conditions. The first was none of my 
doing." Note the hovering accent of distinct. 

63. This refers, apparently, to the refining of the silver of 
which the casket was made. 

68. I wis: from ywis, from Old English adj. gewis, certain, 
used as an adverb. The expression arose through confusion. See 
ywis in Skeat's Etymological Dictionary. Cp. also "/ wist," ii, 
152-3, Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. 

70. Dr. Johnson notes that Arragon has sworn not to marry 
any one else than Portia. 

73. The mortification of the self-sufficient Prince is almost 
tragic. There is manly character in his acceptance of defeat. 

78. Wroth : "ruth, misery." — Schmidt. 

85. My lord: "This sportive rejoinder," as Dyce calls it, seems 
to express Portia's lightness of heart at her escape, and mimicks 
the servant's affected manner. 

89. Sensible regreets : greetings in a substantial form. For 
re greet, cp. King John, III, i, 241. 

90. Commends: compliments. So Richard II, III, i, 38, and 
III, iii, 126. 

92. Likely : pleasing, suitable. 

94. Costly: splendid, rich. 

98. High-day : holiday. Cp. Merry Wives, III, ii, 66. Eccles 



NOTES. 171 

says: "It seems to have a sense pretty similar to "high-flown 
extravagant!' 

101. Oh Love, may it be Bassanio ! 

Note the advance made in the plot in this act, and the differ- 
ent groups claiming our attention. Does the unity of action seem 
endangered in the development up to this point? 

ACT III. 

An interval of some weeks is to be assumed between the end 
of the last act and the beginning of this. 

SCENE I. 

2. Unchecked : uncontradicted. 

4. Narrow seas : a common name for the English Channel in 
the Elizabethan period. See II, viii, 28. 

The Goodwins: quicksands off the eastern coast of Kent. 
"According to tradition, they were once an island belonging to 
Earl Godwin, which was swallowed up by the sea about A. D. 
1 100." — R. 

10. Knapped ginger : nibbled ginger. This is in accordance 
with Furness's suggestion in V., in preference to the usual 
suggestion, "snapped," "broke into small pieces." See V. for 
full discussion. 

13. Prolixity : He is illustrating the fault, as he finds out when 
Salarino interrupts him. 

22. Cross: thwart. 

26. Shylock, though weeks have passed, is still furious, as 
A. notes, at his daughter's flight, and will not talk upon any 
other subject. 

29. Wings : disguise, of course. 

31. Complexion : disposition, nature. 

42. Rhenish : white Rhine wine. 

44. Match : bargain. The rumor of Antonio's losses is al- 
ready abroad. 



172 NOTES. 

45. Prodigal : Antonio's generosity and practice of lending 
money gratis made him, in Shylock's opinion, a prodigal. 

48. Let him look to his bond: The repetition of the expres- 
sion is ominous. 

54. Note the fine vigor of this declaration of wrongs. The 
strong, staccato form of the enumeration, with the passionate 
comment, suits the prose form better than verse, in that it seems 
nature without art. 

55. Hindered me half a million : prevented me from gaining 
half a million ducats. 

61. Fed, i. e., is he not fed . . . ? 

68. Revenge: Intransitive, as often in Shakespeare. 

70. Humility: humanity, benevolence. 

74. Go hard, *. e., I shall hardly fail. It seems impossible to 
believe that Shakespeare could have written this splendid plea 
except from sympathy with the Jews in their oppression. 

86. A diamond gone: It may be questioned whether Shakes- 
peare really conceived the Jew to be the utterly sordid creature 
presented here, or whether he is merely presenting a figure that 
would please the average theatre-goer of the day. The intro- 
duction of Tubal must have given exquisite enjoyment to the 
groundlings. 

88. The curse: A. cites the curse demanded against Israel 
for transgressing the Law, in Deuteronomy, xxvii. 15-68: "Thy 
daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes 
shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long. All 
thy labors shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and 
thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway." 

91. Dead: Jessica is already lost and dead, or worse, from 
Shylock's point of view. 

95. Thou loss : The second folio and many editions have 
then; but the thou, apostrophising the loss, as in the first folio, 
seems better. But see V. 

in. Where? The folios and quartos have here without the 
interrogation mark. The reading of the text is Rowe's. See V. 

125. Turquoise: If Shylock has lost all paternal feeling, he 



NOTES. 173 

still retains a tenderness for the days of his courtship, and the 
love-pledge then received from Leah. This seems the reason for 
his distress, not the supposed value of the stone. The turquoise 
was supposed to vary in color with the possessor's health, — a 
useless virtue, it would seem, — and also to indicate any change 
in the lover's affection by a corresponding change in hue. 
133. Merchandise: profit. 

SCENE 11. 

More than a fortnight has intervened since the last scene, for 
the bond is now due. Note how the three threads of the plot 
are interwoven in this scene. 

6. Quality: "manner" — Schmidt. Portia, in disclaiming that 
love is her motive, of course makes it only plainer that it is. 

9. Some month or two : To such an extent has "The day 
or two" of line 1 grown, as Portia urges Bassanio to defer the 
act that may. separate them forever. There has been much dis- 
cussion over the meaning of the details of Portia's hesitating 
plea. See V. ; yet the meaning of the whole cannot be mistaken. 

14. Beshrew: Note the pretty effect of the playful impreca- 
tion. 

15. O'er-look'd : bewitched, placed a spell upon. Cp. Merry 
Wives of Windsor, V, v, 86 : "Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd 
even in thy birth." 

18. Naughty: wicked, as in V, i, 91. 

20. Yours: to be read as a dissyllable, as also the first yours 
in line 20 below. 

20-21. "If it prove that I, really yours, be not so by this lot, 
then Fortune should suffer,' not I. And yet, in that case, I shall 
be the sufferer." 

22. Peize: to poise, to weigh, and so delay. The word possi- 
bly means to weigh down," and in this way, retard. P. Cites 
Edzvard III, ii, 1 : "And peize their deeds with weight of heavy 
lead." 

29. Fear the enjoying: fear lest I may not enjoy. Note to 
what a perilous length the metaphor of treason and the rock is 



174 NOTES. 

carried. Torture was still used in England as a means of ex- 
tracting evidence, and Shakespeare, as may be seen by lines 32 
and S3, understood how worthless was evidence so obtained. 

44. Swan-like end: the reference is, of course, to the old 
belief that the swan sang at its death. Shakespeare often re- 
fers to it, as in Othello, V, ii, 247: 

"I will play the swan, 
And die in music." 

54. Presence: dignity of mien. 

Much more love: because Hercules' reward was to be only 
horses. 

55. Alcides : Laomedon promised Hercules his famous horses, 
if he would rescue his daughter from a sea-monster ; and it was 
this reward, not love, that prompted the hero to action. The 
story is to be found in Ovid, Met, xi, iggi. 

56. Virgin tribute: tribute of a virgin. 

61. Fancy : transient passion. The word has sometimes the 
sense of love in Shakespeare, but the above meaning seems ob- 
vious here. The song is evidently meant to give Bassanio a 
clue, and so he understands it. Perhaps Portia speciously justi- 
fies herself in giving a hint, not direct information. 

67. This and the following lines would seem sufficient to 
quiet any doubts as to the meaning of "fancy." Cp. Midsummer 
Nighfs Dream, I, i, 234: "Love looks not with the eyes, but 
with the mind." The quartos have eye in line 67. 

74. Still : ever. 

81. Vice: The quartos and first folio have voice. 
Simple: foolish. 

82. His : its ; or vice may be personified. 

Its was a new word in the Elizabethan period, and used only 
a few times by Shakespeare. See Abbott, § 228. 

86. Livers white as milk : a supposed sign of cowardice, as 
the beard was of courage and strength. See II, i, 7. 

87. Excrement: beard, as in Comedy of Errors, II, ii, 78, etc. 
94. Upon supposed fairness: according to CI., "surmounting 

fictitious beauty," and referring to locks; according to R., ad- 



NOTES. 175 

verbial, and modifying the preceding clause. The latter view 
seems to give more point. 

96. Absolute construction, being to be understood. 

97. Guiled: guileful. The participle termination, -ed, was 
often used in this way in Shakespeare : Cp. 1 Henry IV, i, 183, 
"disdain'd contempt," where "disdain'd" means disdainful. 

99. Indian beauty : This passage has received a vast amount 
of annotation and comment. Nevertheless, the simplest interpre- 
tion seems the best. The beautiful scarf veiling a female form 
leads one to expect beauty beneath it; but what is, considered 
beauty in India would be quite the reverse in England ; cp. Mon- 
taigne, in his Essay on Beauty: "The Indians describe it black 
and swarthy, with blabbered thick lips, with a broad and flat 
nose." So the beautiful scarf might conceal only an Indian 
beauty, that is, only gross ugliness. This view has been in effect 
advanced by several of the commentators. It is interesting to 
note that Florio's translation was not published until 1603, as 
Gollancz has remarked; and if Shakespeare got the suggestion 
from him, he must have read it in French. 

102. Hard food for Midas: referring, of course, to the well- 
known story contained in Ovid. Metamorphoses, xi, of Midas' 
fatal power of changing into gold all that he touched. V. notes 
that Shakespeare probably owed his knowledge of the Metamor- 
phoses to Golding's translation. 

104. Meagre: Note archaic used in sense of poor. 

106. Paleness : Many editors have accepted Warburton's 
emendation, plainness, which seems to have much in its favor, 
since silver has just been stigmatized as pale. However, if we 
emphasize Thy, the force of the reading is preserved. 

109. As: such as, namely. 

in. By some considered an Alexandrine. To this there is 
no objection, though it does not seem necessary, as in moderate 
the e is so lightly pronounced, or so slurred, that it need not 
be considered a syllable, and the line is then a pentameter, with 
an anapaest in the third place. 



176 NOTES. 

112. Rain: the third and fourth quartos have rein, and many 
editors accept it as the better reading. 

115. Counterfeit: likeness. 

124. Having made: If we are strict with Shakespeare, we 
note that this is a "misrelated participle;" but there is no diffi- 
culty in the sense. There is a suggestion of euphuism in this 
conceit. 

126. Unfurnished : "Unaccompanied by the other eye, or, 
perhaps, by the other features." — R. 

How far: so far as. 

130. Continent: that which contains, the original sense o£ 
the word. 

139. By your leave, i. e., "to claim you with a kiss." Note 
the rhyme, as in 1. 108 ff., where, as A. remarks, "the speech of 
the lovers grows musical with happiness." 

140. By note: according to instruction. 

141. Prize: contest for a prize. 

152. To wish myself much better: This is, of course, not 
satisfied vanity, but merely contentment with her lot. See 
159 ff- 

155. More rich : originally a part of the following line, 
making a clumsy Alexandrine. 

159. Sum of . . . — something: the reading of the quartos, 
with the exception of the dash, which is written by CI. and 
Hudson, and approved by V. The folios have sum of nothing, 
which a great number of editors retain. While each reading 
may be defended, yet, with nothing, the modifying clause be- 
ginning with which would be weak, even in the intended ex- 
aggeration of self-depreciation. How beautiful is the modesty 
of this character so richly endowed with other noble qualities 
and graces. 

162. Happier then in this: the reading of the second, third 
and fourth folios ; the first folio and quartos omit the in. The 
editors vary much in their readings. The reading in the text 
seems the best in sense and rhythm. 

164. Happiest of all in: The folios and quartos have is 
where our text has in. The emendation is Collier's, and is ac- 



NOTES. 177 

cepted by Dyce, White, Rolfe, Hudson, and A., and is approved 
by V. The construction is more consistent, and may be what 
Shakespeare really wrote. 

Gentle: submissive. 

168. Lord: "To be the lord," seems to be an expression de- 
noting complete control without regard to sex. So of master, 
in 1. 169. 

172. Ring : This prepares the way for the ring incident. 

175. Vantage: right. 

192. From me: When you have all you can wish in your pres- 
ent fortunate state, you can need none from me. Johnson un- 
derstood "none away from me," and other editors accept this 
meaning. Abbott, §158, interprets, "None differently from me; 
none which I do not wish you." 

199. It is well to bear in mind that Nerissa was not a maid- 
servant, but a companion ; nor was Gratiano a servant. 

200. The folios and quartos place no punctuation after loved. 
The first, second, and third folios place a comma after intermis- 
sion; the third quarto and the fourth folio, a period. The editors 
vary much. Theobald first understood intermission to be the 
subject of pertains, and this reading seems to give the best sense. 

Intermission : "pause or discontinuance of an action." — Theo- 
bald. Gratiano implies, jestingly, we trust, that he and Bassanio 
are untiring lovers. 

215. Salerio : Dyce, Knight, Furness, and others think this an 
error for Salanio or Salarino, since, they say, there is little rea- 
son for introducing a new character here. But, as the folios and 
quartos have Salerio, there seems no sufficient argument for 
changing the text. 

217. If that : See note on I, iii, 43. 

219. Very: true. 

223. Is this form correct? 

227. Reason : It would be well to have Lorenzo's counsel in 
devising means to aid Antonio. Moreover, Lorenzo and Jessica 
are thus easily brought into the main action. 

12 



178 NOTES. 

232. Estate : state, condition, as often in the older English ; 
see 255, below. 

235. Royal merchant: The expression, royal, seems to be 
used here much in the sense of "princely," "noble," but was pro- 
bably suggested by the fact that certain great merchants in the 
Middle Ages were so called from their transacting business for 
kings and princes ; and the term is apparently used in this sense 
in IV, i, 29. Dr. Johnson says : "This epithet was, in the poet's 
time, more striking and better understood, because Gresham 
(Sir Thomas, founder of the London Exchange) was then com- 
monly dignified with the title of the 'royal merchant.' " 

227. This may refer to Bassanio's words to Antonio, I, i, 170- 
172, though Gratiano did not hear them spoken; or the allusion 
may easily have suggested itself independently to Gratiano. The 
meaning is clear. A. cites for comparison from Marlowe's Jew 
of Malta, IV, iv: "I'll be thy Jason, thou my golden fleece." 

239. Shrewd: evil. The word is an old participle, and meant 
originally "accursed." 

242. Turn the constitution : affect, change. 

243. Constant: well balanced, steadfast. 
245. An Alexandrine. 

257. Engaged: pledged, bound. 

258. Mere: absolute. 

264. Mexico: Elze (see note to this line in V.) observes that 
this would apply to England, but not to Venice, since the latter 
country never had any direct communication with America. 

269. Present: ready. 

272. Confound: ruin, destroy. 

274. /. e., "Calls in question the rights which the city guaran- 
tees to resident aliens." 

276. Magnificoes : the chief men of Venice, nobles. 

277. Port: dignity, importance. 

Persuaded with : argued with. R. notes that this is the only 
instance where Shakespeare uses this preposition with this verb. 
See Abbott, § 194. 

278. Envious: malignant. 



NOTES. 179 

281. Countrymen : If one wishes to quibble, one can observe 
that the Jews had no country. 
289. Unwearied: To be taken as a superlative. See note on 

II, i, 46. 

Best-conditioned: best natured. 

292. Than any: than in any other. 

298. Hair: This word reads easily and naturally as a dissyl- 
lable, — the effect of the liquid r. Cp. power and our. 

304. It has been noted by P. that Portia and Bassanio seem 
not to have noticed Jessica's warning that Shylock would rather 
have Antonio's flesh than twenty times the amount of the bond. 
White estimates that sixty thousand ducats were equal to at 
least one million dollars now ! 

308. Cheer : countenance, the original meaning ; from Late 
Latin cara, face. 

309. Dear bought: As Eccles has remarked, it is impossible 
to think that Portia refers to her generous offers to Bassanio, 
but rather to the troubles that attend their marriage : anxiety, 
separation, and Antonio's danger. 

312. Estate: See note to line 232, above. 

315. Between you and I : G. and A. refer to Jespersen's 
Progress in Language, p. 246, where that author states that the 
phrase, you and I, was in such common everyday use that it was 
treated as a whole, and the last word was not inflected. The 
common practice of the authors of the Elizabethan period, how- 
ever, of disregarding the inflections of pronouns, suggests that 
we have here merely another instance of a general tendency. 
See note to I, ii, 25-26. Of course, the use of the phrase as in 
the text still persists in the language of the illiterate. 

I should like to see a period after between you and I, and a 
mark of exclamation after death, and so avoid an unpleasant 
flavor in Antonio's words; that is, the conditioning of his for- 
giveness upon Bassanio's presence at his death. 

scene hi. 
The time is the day before the trial. Antonio is under arrest, 



180 NOTES. 

but has been allowed to have an interview, under the guard of a 
jailer, with Shylock. The scene is preparatory to the trial, and 
adds to the dramatic tension by bringing out the contrast be- 
tween Antonio's despair and Shylock's triumphant cruelty. How 
different are the attitudes of the two now from those at the be- 
ginning of the play. 

9. Naughty : wicked, worthless, bad. The word had for- 
merly a stronger and larger meaning than now. Cp. V, i, 91 : 
"So shines a good deed in a naughty world." 

Fond : foolish. 

10. To come: as to come. 

18. It : The word seems to express disgust. 
Impenetrable: hard-hearted. 

19. Kept : lived. Several editors note that the word is still 
used in this sense at the University of Cambridge. Cp. also "He 
keeps to himself" in every-day speech. 

25. Grant this forfeiture to hold : permit to be exacted. 

26-31. This passage has caused much difficulty to editors and 
critics. For the views and emendations of many of them, see 
note to passage, in V. Changes in the text where all the folios 
and quartos agree essentially should be only a last resort ; and 
the construction here, though loose, seems intelligible : "The 
Duke must carry out the law; for the privileges (commodity) 
that strangers have heretofore enjoyed with us, if they be now 
denied (=the denial of former privileges), will call in question 
the justice of the state; for (since that = for, and referring to 
the first statement, The Duke must carry out the law') the trade 
of the city is with all nations." 

32. Bated : reduced. 

SCENE IV. 

Since the close of Scene ii, Bassanio has been married to Por- 
tia and Gratiano to Nerissa, and the grooms have set out from 
the very church-door for Venice. The events of the scene take 
place on the same day as those of Scene ii and Scene v. 

2. Conceit : conception. Trace, if you can, the changes in the 
meaning of this word. Cp. I, i, 92. 



NOTES. 181 

6. Gentleman : Note this use of the dative, or, which is the 
same thing, the omission of to. 

g. "Than ordinary acts of kindness can make you." 

ii. For the double negative, see note on I, ii, 29. 

12. Waste: "Here used in its primitive sense, to consume, 
spend, pass." — F^alliwell. 

21. Misery: The reading of the first quarto; the folios have 
cruelty. 

25. Husbandry and manage: stewardship and management, — 
two good words grown old-fashioned. 

30. Husband and my lord's : Both nouns are in the pos- 
sessive. This usage is common in Shakespeare. Cp. V, note and 
Abbott, § 397, who cites Richard II, II, iii, 62 : "Shall be your 
love and labour's recompense." 

ZZ. Imposition: task. Cp. I, ii, 114. 

36. Fair commands, i. c, the commands of you, fair lady. The 
epithet is transferred in the polite compliment. 

46. Thee: to the servant, the acknowledged inferior; also 
used in the familiarity of close friendship by Portia to Nerissa. 

49. Padua: Theobald's emendation for Mantua in the folios 
and quartos. 

50. Cousin's: kinsman's; the original meaning. 

52. Imagined: all imaginable. 

53. Tranect: The reading of the folios and quartos. The 
word occurs nowhere else. Rowe suggests that it was an error 
for traject, corresponding to the Italian traghctto, "a ferry ;" and 
many critics accept this view, which is probable enough. It has 
not been proved, however, that there may not have been a par- 
ticular ferry going under this name, since, as Knight and Cow- 
den-Clark show, the Italian tranare or trainare means "to draw," 
"to drag," and a ferry of boats propelled by boatmen pulling at a 
rope may be referred to. Knight suggests that tranect means the 
towboat itself. 

56. Convenient speed : speed becoming the occasion. 
61. Accomplished: provided. 



182 NOTES. 

63. Accoutred : The first quarto has apparrcld. The sense is 
equipped. 

72. I could not do withal: I could not help it. See V. note 
in proof of this meaning. Several editors cite from Nash's Have 
with You to Saffron Walden, "If hee dye of a surfet, I cannot 
doe withall ; it is his own seeking, not mine." 

75. That : so that. A very common omission. See Abbott. 
§283. 

yy. Jacks : a term of contempt. Cp. Much Ado About Noth- 
ing, V, i, 91 : "Boys, apes, braggarts, Jacks, milksops." 

scene v. 

In time, this scene follows quickly upon the preceding. Elze 
'("Essays," p. no, cited in V.) thinks the reason for the scene is 
that Shakespeare wishes to show his disapproval of the compul- 
sory conversion of Shylock, — a slender justification, it would 
seem, if that is all. R. G. White, commenting on the scene, says 
of a portion of it omitted in this text : "I think we have an out- 
cropping of the old play (referred to by Gosson) in Lorenzo's 
unpleasant banter with Launcelot. Lorenzo's allusion is not ex- 
plained by anything whatsoever in the course of the story ; it 
serves no purpose It has 'neither wit, manners, nor mod- 
esty,' but is an unsightly excrescence which, I trust, is to be thus 
accounted for." Though White's view seems not improbable, yet 
such scenes would please the groundlings, whom Shakespeare 
could not ignore, if he would; and the trifling here serves to in- 
crease the effect of the succeeding great scene. 

3. I fear you, i. e., for you. Cp. Richard HI, I, i, 137: "His 
physicians fear him mightily." See Abbott, § 200. 

5. Agitation: cogitation, probably. 

7. Saved by my husband: As observed by Henley, this sounds 
like an echo of / Corinthians, vii. 14: "The unbelieving husband 
is sanctified by the wife," but reversed. Launcelot and Jessica 
seem to have been familiar with the New Testament as well as 
with the Old. 



NOTES. 183 

10. Enow : "the plurai of enough." — G. 

35-38. Cover : The play upon the two meanings, "to put dishes 
on the table" and "to put on one's hat," is obvious. Cp. II, ix, 44. 

37. Quarrelling with occasion : "at odds with the matter in 
question," Schmidt; or "quibbling on every opportunity." — CI. 

47. Dear discretion : Lorenzo pities discrimination (the 
meaning of discretion here), which has suffered such wrongs in 
Launcelot's nice use of words. 

Suited : It is difficult to determine whether the word means 
here: (1) suited to the sense (irony, of course); (2) appa- 
reled; or (3) marshaled in suits or series. There is much in 
favor of the first meaning suggested, but the second or third 
would better lead up to the figure of the army of words. 

48-49. The mixed figure is apparent. 

50. A many : a collective expression, probably a worn-down 
form of a many of. Cp. "A many of our bodies," Henry V, IV, 
iii, 95. The phrase is obsolete except in poetry. It has been 
noted as singular that we still say "a few," but decline to say "a 
many ;" but we have "many a" instead. 

51. Garnished: furnished, endowed. 

52. Cheer'st: what cheer? First quarto has far'st. 

59. Mean it: observe a mean, be moderate. This is the read- 
ing of the first quarto, and the interpretation of Capell, Furness, 
and Corson. The noun mean is here used as a verb, it being the 
indefinite, as often after intransitive verbs or nouns used as 
verbs. For other readings and comments, see note to passage 
in V. 

62. Lay: Note that this word may be taken either as transi- 
tive or as intransitive. 

65. Fellow : equal. 

7$. Set you forth : Note the play upon words. 



i&t NOTES. 

ACT IV. 

SCENE I. 

I. What : an exclamation to call attention, about equivalent 
to well! 

2-3. You; thee; thou : All address the Duke as you, denoting 
respect ; but he, as acknowledged superior, addresses Antonio 
and Shylock with thou. He bestows the you, however, upon 
Portia, and even upon Nerissa, in their disguise as lawyer and 
clerk, probably a recognition of the dignity of the law. It would 
be difficult to reduce the usage among the other personages in 
this act to rule. 

5. Uncapable: R. observes that Shakespeare uses incapable 
five times, and uncapable twice. 

6. From : of. CI. notes that Shakespeare elsewhere uses of, 
as we do, with these words. 

7. Qualify: moderate. 

8. Obdurate: with the accent on the second syllable, as regu- 
larly in Shakespeare. 

9. That: The conjunction serves to connect the clause it in- 
troduces with the since preceding. For this construction, see 
Abbott, §285. 

10. Envy : malice. Cp. envious, III, ii, 278. 

20. Remorse: compassion, as often in Shakespeare. Cp. 
Macbeth, I, v, 45 : "Stop up the access and passage to remorse." 
26. Moiety : a portion, originally a half. 
29. Enow : see note on III, v, 10. 

34. Gentle: CI. and other editions suspect a pun here; but 
Furness in V. argues that the irritating play upon the word would 
not be in keeping with the conciliatory tone of the rest of the 
Duke's appeal to Shylock. 

35. Possessed: informed. 

39. Shakespeare may have failed to realize that Venice was an 
independent city, and may have supposed that justice was admin- 
istered under a charter from the Emperor; or, as is more likely, 



NOTES. 185 

he may have used the expression simply because it would be 
effective with his audience, who would have in mind the English 
cities which held charters revocable at the pleasure of the crown. 
42. Dr. Johnson remarks that Shylock refuses to answer, and 
then does answer in such terms as "he knows will aggravate 
the pain of the enquirer." 

46. Baned: killed, the original meaning of the word. The 
killing specifically by poison was a secondary meaning of the 
word, and this may be implied here. Cp. ratsbane. 

47. Gaping pig: either a pig prepared for the table, with a 
lemon in its mouth, or a squealing pig. 

50-51. A much discussed and emended passage. The old 
texts have no punctuation in line 50 except a period after affec- 
tion. They have in line 51 Masters, or Maisters, of passion. The 
reading of the text is that suggested by Thirlby. Themselves 
in line 50 is from the Pitt Press ed. 

Affection seems to be regarded as any impulse or excitement 
received from some outer cause; passion, the inner feeling pro- 
ceeding from the heart or mind. 

56. Woollen bag-pipe : a bag-pipe with a woollen covering to 
the bag. Capell feelingly suggested "a wowling bag-pipe." 

59. For the double negative. See note on I, ii, 29. 

61-62. That I follow, etc: why I follow a suit in which T 
gain no money. 

68. Offence: CI. notes that Bassanio means by the word, re- 
sentment for an injury. Shylock takes it to mean the injury 
itself. 

70. Think you question : consider that you argue. 

72. Main flood: Each of these words is used singly also in 
the same sense. 

73-74. These lines vary much in the original texts. For read- 
ings and textual criticism, see V. 

76. No noise: equivalent to a double negative, coming after 
forbid. See note on I, ii, 29. 

77. Fretten : the reading of the quartos. The folios have 
fretted* a change made by the printers, as Grant White thinks, 



i86 NOTES. 

from the older reading of the quartos. G. notes that there is 
nothing irregular in frciten, citing the Anglo-Saxon freten. 

80. His Jewish heart: in apposition to that of the preceding 
line. 

82. With all brief and plain conveniency : G. remarks 
that "here the offices of adjective and noun are exchanged." 
The meaning is : With all convenient despatch and directness. 

92. Parts : employments, duties. 

97. Such viands: i. e., as you enjoy. 

104. Upon my power: by my power, as we should now say, 
though, as CI. remarks, we still say, "On my authority." 

105. Bellario: The Duke does not say how long before he 
had sent for Bellario. We may assume either that there has 
been time enough for the "learned doctor" to evolve the line of 
defence used at the trial — and not much would have been neces- 
sary, — and that detained by sickness or other causes, he trans- 
fers his plans to Portia, or that she plans the overthrow of the 
Jew in the brief interval after her marriage, and merely sends 
to Bellario for a letter of introduction and a disguise. Either 
explanation will do, as such a trial, under such circumstances, 
could never take place except upon the stage. We must remem- 
ber that the play was written simply for the stage, and not for 
the severe tests of literary criticism. 

123. A play upon the same words is found in Julius Caesar, 
I, i, 15. The quartos spell both words soule, but the folios spell 
soale and soule or soul. 

125. Hangman : executioner. 

128. Inexorable: the reading of the third and fourth folios. 
The quartos and the first and second folios have inexccrable, 
which is retained by many editors. Inexecrable "occurs nowhere 
else in the language," says Furness. It is forced, in this passage, 
to mean "beyond execration." 

131. When and where did Pythagoras live? 

To hold : so as to hold. 

134. Who hanged : the absolute construction seems the sim- 
plest explanation here. See Abbott, § 376. A. quotes the follow- 
ing from Chambers' Book of Days: "On the continent, down to 



NOTES. 187 

a comparatively late period, the lower animals were in all re- 
spects considered amenable to the laws. Domestic animals were 
tried in the common criminal courts, and their punishment on 
conviction was death; wild animals fell under the jurisdiction 
of the ecclesiastical courts." 

140. Offend'st: dost harm. 

142. Cureless : the reading of the quartos ; the folios have 
endless. 

162-3. No impediment to let him lack : This seems a form of 
the Elizabethan double negative, which may be expressed or 
implied. It is equivalent to "no impediment to his receiving." 
Cp. line 76, above. 

169. Came you : the reading of the folios. The quartos have 
come. The reply, "I did," seems to indicate came, and compare 
came you, line 119, above. 

170. Take your place: i. e., as judge, not as advocate; for 
she represents Bellario, who had been summoned to "determine 
the case." 

172. Question : contest. 

173. Throughly : How is this word related in form and 
meaning to thoroughly? 

178-9. "In such a manner that no legal objection can be found 
to your procedure." 

180. Danger: power. The term was used in Shakespeare's 
time and before in the sense of debt, or the control or power the 
creditor had over the debtor, as well as in the wider sense. 

182. Must, i. e., the only hope for Antonio is that the Jew 
may be merciful. No compulsion is implied, though Shylock 
prefers to understand it so. This word leads up naturally, CI. 
notes, to the superb plea that follows. 

184. It seems almost criminal to subject this perfect plea to 
analysis and dissection. The reader who fails to realize its 
power and beauty simply as an appeal to the higher nature will 
hardly find these qualities with the microscope. The most ex- 
acting critic, however, can scarcely escape its perfect art. 

Strain'd: constrained, compelled. 



i88 NOTES. 

186. Blest : possessed of a double power of blessing. 

191. Attribute to: symbol of. 

200. We do pray for mercy : There is no inconsistency in this 
reference to the Lord's Prayer, for as Wordsworth (cited in V.) 
says : "The Lord's Prayer was not composed by our Lord as 
containing anything which would be new or strange to his dis- 
ciples, but as putting together in a short form all that was most 
valuable in the Jewish liturgies already known to them." 

208. Discharge: pay. See III, ii, 269. 

214. Malice bears down truth: This seems to mean: "This 
is a matter of malice, not a true (honest) suit to recover a debt." 

223. Daniel: The reference is to Daniel as he appears in the 
Apocryphal books : in the History of Susannah and the Elders, 
where he, still a youth, convicts the elders of false witness ; and 
in the History of Bel and the Dragon, where he detects the 
fraud of the priests of Bel. See note in V. 

227. It should be noticed how carefully Portia brings out 
Shylock's purpose, which is murder, not the collecting of his 
bond. She causes the other side, too, to show their readiness to 
pay the bond many times over. 

233. This does not agree exactly with I, iii, 144; but it is to 
be assumed, of course, that Shylock in drawing up the bond has 
inserted "nearest the heart." 

248. Hath full relation to: applies fully to. 

251. More elder: Cp. "More better." Tempest, I, ii, 19, and 
Midsummer Night's Dream, III, i, 21 : "Most worst," Winter's 
Tale, III, ii, 180. For many other examples of the double com- 
paratives and superlatives, see Abbott. § 11. 

255. Balance: used as a plural, because of its sibilant ending. 

262. Shylock refuses this last opportunity for an act of mercy, 
and the audience is worked up to such resentment as to enjoy 
all the severity of his punishment when the case goes against 
him. 

268. Still her use: ever her custom. 

272. If we recognize the trochaic movement in the second foot, 
there is no difficulty in the scansion of this line. 



NOTES. 189 

275. As G. remarks, this may mean either, "Speak well of me 
when I am dead," or, "Speak well of the way in which I died." 

278. Repent not: the reading of the folios; the quartos have 
Repent but. As Halliwell says, either reading may be supported. 
The reading of the text, however, apart from its preserving a 
more complete antithesis to the preceding line, seems to give a 
more satisfactory sense : "Grieve not for your friend, and he 
grieves not that he pays your debt." 

281. Presently: instantly. 

With all my heart: The jest adds to the pathos of the 
situation. It has been noted that men will sometimes jest in 
the presence of death. Cp. Richard II, II, ii, 73ft., where the 
dying Gaunt says: "Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old," 
etc. 

283. Which : relating to a person, as often in the older En- 
glish. See note to II, vii, 4. 

288. The audience is in the secret with Portia and Nerissa, 
and the little byplay relieves the tension for the moment. 

296. Barrabas : pronounced Bar'rabas', the usual pronuncia- 
tion at that day 

298. Pursue: "Hovering accent." — G. 

304. Up to this point, everything has gone apparently accord- 
ing to Shylock's wish, — that is, as far as the bond is concerned, 
and Antonio seems lost. But the catastrophe is at hand, and 
the Jew's victory turns into terrible disaster, while the Merchant 
is suddenly raised to a higher degree of honor and prosperity 
than he had ever before enjoyed. The situation is powerfully 
dramatic. 

306. No jot of blood : According to all modern notions of law, 
this is mere quibbling. Indeed, such a case could never come to 
trial. But it should be always remembered that Shakespeare 
takes this part of the old story as he finds it. His English audi- 
ence know that the scene is laid in a foreign land, and just as 
they take the casket scene, they take the trial, and are moved ; 
for the figures are intensely human, though the situation be- 



iqo NOTES. 

longs to Wonderland. For a discussion of the law in the trial 
scene, see V., p. 403ff. 

309. The cutting it: For the frequent omission of the prepo- 
sition of after the verbal noun, see Abbott, § 93. 

327. Just: exact. Cp. "An equal pound," I, iii, 142. 

328-9. Substance Or the division : the whole or the fraction 
of one twentieth of a scruple, i. e., of a grain. 

331. Estimation, i. e., the inequality is estimated by a hair's 
breadth, or by a hair's weight. 

334. On the hip : See note to I, iii, 47. 

335. Why doth the Jew pause? Furness, in a fine note in 
V., questions whether or not Shakespeare intimates to us here 
that the "balance is trembling between Tragedy and Comedy," 
and shows how different, how much greater in his implacable 
hate would Shylock have been, had he demanded the forfeiture 
at all costs. However, Portia has another hold upon Shylock 
that would have thwarted him in his desperate demand, namely, 
the charge that he had plotted against the life of a Venetian 
citizen. 

351. This point would hold good in any court. 

352. Party: Note the proper use of this word. CI. observes, 
however, that Shakespeare uses it also in the sense of "person ;" 
cp. Love's Labour's Lost, IV, ii, 138 : "The party writing." 

353. Seize : in the legal sense, "to take possession of." 

357. Predicament: state, condition. "Originally a term in 
logic, the Latin equivalent of 'category,' " CI. 
362. Formerly: already. 

372. Drive unto: The use of drive is peculiar. G. cites Pro- 
fessor Tyrrell (Academy, Jan. 9. 1892,), who "suggests that 
drive should be derive, in its sense of 'turn from the course,' 
'deflect,'" as "in 2 Henry IV, IV, v, 43: 'This crown . . . . 
which .... derives itself to me.'" 

373. The half which is forfeited to the state may be commuted 
to a fine ; Antonio must receive his half. 

383. In use: in trust. If this is the meaning of the phrase, 
as seems most likely, the passage would mean : If the Duke and 



NOTES. 191 

the court will remit the fine to which the forfeiture to the state 
has been commuted, I will hold the half awarded me, in trust 
for the advantage of Lorenzo and Jessica, and render it to them 
at Shylock's death. It can hardly mean, as suggested by some 
editors, for Shylock's advantage, for he retains half of his es- 
tate ; nor that Antonio will use it for his own advantage, since 
we have seen (I, iii,) that he never took interest, and it would 
be a grievous falling-off to have him do so now. 

387. Become a Christian : Consider what was the severity of 
this condition. An additional sting was added by Antonio's 
speaking to the Jew of his "son Lorenzo." 

394. I am content : Consider the terrible suffering that is 
back of these words; and try to imagine how Shylock uttered 
them. 

399. Ten more: to make up the jury of twelve. 

400. Exit Shylock : With these words the development of 
the main plot may be said to be complete. Only the subordinate 
ring incident is unfinished. Some hold that, according to rule, 
the play should end here. But why should the play conform to 
rules never intended for a play like The Merchant of Venice, 
for there had never before been such? 

Surely we would not willingly miss the delightful relaxation 
from high tension, the sense of security, with which we watch the 
exquisite love story unravel its last complexity in jest and music. 
What becomes of Shylock? Our imagination alone can answer, 
for his sinister figure disappears suddenly and absolutely. His 
piTnishment has been little short of martyrdom, and we trust 
that Antonio does not realize the refined cruelty of his apparent 
magnanimity. 

406. Gratify: thank and recompense. 

412. Cope: meet, reward. 

Withal: with; here a preposition. The form is often an 
adverb. When a preposition, it is always postpositive. 

418. That is, "I have never yet desired any other reward." 

421. Of force: of necessity. 



192 NOTES. 

426, 427. The stage directions, "To Ant." and "To Bass." 
should be credited to CI. 

431. To give: by giving. 

445. An : if, hence pleonastic here. In the old editions and in 
Elizabethan English generally written and. See the New En- 
glish Dictionary under and and an. 

451. Commandment: pronounced as four syllables. 

SCENE 11. 

How does this scene contribute to the development of the 
plot? 

6. Advice: deliberation. 

15. Old swearing: a familiar colloquial use of old, frequent 
in Shakespeare, with much the same force as at present; cp. "a 
high old time," R., "old fellow," etc. 

Sum up the progress of the play in this act. 

ACT V. 

It would seem that the exquisite romance, poetry, and music 
of this act would justify its existence. Yet some German critics 
have objected to it on the ground that the tone of the play, 
centering in Shylock, as it does, is essentially tragic, and the 
interest flags after his disappearance; and that this act, essentially 
comedy, disturbs the unity. What is your opinion? 

scene 1. 

The setting of this scene should be kept in mind : the beauti- 
ful grounds of an Italian villa, with trees, shrubs, flowers, foun- 
tains, and leafy recesses, and the moonlight over it all. The 
blank verse is wonderfully beautiful, with its responsive form, 
and the refrain falling in the last half of the lines. 

4. Troilus : son of Priam, king of Troy. The story of his un- 
happy love for the Greek girl, Cressida, has, like many other 
themes drawn from the classic period, been treated by the medi- 
aeval romancers and poets after their own methods. Chaucer, 
in his turn, presented this and other of these stories in his own 



NOTES. 193 

exquisite way, and it was probably in this form that it was 
known to Shakespeare. Steevens has pointed out that Chaucer 
has practically the same incident of Troilus upon the Trojan 
walls as that we find in our play. See Chaucer's Troilus and 
Criseyde, v, 666 ; also Shakespeare's play of Troilus and Cressida. 
7. Thisbe: Hunter has noted that Thisbe, Dido, and Medea 
stand in this order in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women. Look 
up the several stories. Shakespeare may have had Ovid's Meta- 
morphoses, read in the original or in translation, in mind as 
well as Chaucer's poem, in his reference to Thisbe and Medea. 

10. Dido : Shakespeare refers often to Dido. He may have 
read Virgil; but for this particular reference he seems again in- 
debted to Chaucer. As V. shows, Malone and Hunter noted 
that Shakespeare transferred, in effect, to Dido what Chaucer 
had said, in the Legend of Good Women, of Ariadne when de- 
serted by Theseus. See Chaucer's L. of G. W ., 2187 ff. 

Willow: the emblem of forsaken love. Of course, Virgil 
makes no mention of it, since its use was not classic. Shakes- 
peare introduces it simply because it is effective. 

11. Waft: for wafted. So in the past participle, "Have waft 
o'er," King John, II, i, 73, cited by CI. See Abbott, § 341. 

14. Aeson : Medea's father. Ovid, Metamorphoses, vii., tells 
the story. The commentators have noted that Gower, in his 
Confessio Amantis, describes Medea as gathering the herbs at 
night. 

15. 'The story of Medea, who carried off her father's treasure 
and ran away with her lover, is not inaptly paralleled by that of 
Jessica." — CI. 

17. The second folio reads : "And in such a night." This 
would make the verse normal. But as there seems to have been 
no authority for the change, and as the same type of verse oc- 
curs in line 20, it seems best to consider the pause as supplying 
the equivalent of the syllable. 

28. The critics note that Shakespeare accents this name on the 
penult here and in line 51, but that in the later play of The Tem- 
pest he placed it upon the first syllable, where it belongs. 

31. No doubt her prayers were real; but incidentally they 
13 



194 NOTES. 

serve to explain her absence until she shall see fit to explain it 
otherwise. 

41. The first quarto has: "M. Lorenzo, M. Lorenzo;" the first 
folio, following the second quarto, has : "M. Lorenzo & M. Lo- 
renzo," where &, as V. suggests, is probably a misprint for an 
interrogation mark; but the most surprising reading of all, per- 
haps, is the "M. Lorenzo and Mrs. Lorenza" of the third and 
fourth folios. See CI. note. 

46. A post : a messenger or courier. Launcelot has imitated 
with his "sola, sola !" the sound of the horn blown by such mes- 
sengers. 

49. Sweet soul : Up to the appearance of Rowe's edition, 
these words were printed as part of Launcelot's speech. 

54. The soft, romantic strain, interrupted by the coming of 
Stephano and then of Launcelot, is here resumed in the ex- 
quisite lines that follow. No more poetic atmosphere has ever 
been created by a poet than that which suffuses itself over this 
scene. 

57. Become: accord with. 

59. Patines : This word has given rise to much discussion. 
The first folio and the second and third quartos have pattens; 
the first quarto has patients; the second, third, and fourth folios, 
patterns. Patines are small gold plates, used in administering 
the communion, and the gleam of the stars suggests the figure 
to Lorenzo. The suggestion of Furness in V. that the reference 
is rather to the "broken clouds, like flaky discs of curdled gold," 
is attractive. However, the next line certainly refers to the 
stars. 

6off. The ancient theory was that the stars and planets were 
fixed in concentric spheres, and that these spheres in their revo- 
lution about the earth produced a perfect harmony of sounds. 
There are frequent references to this by Shakespeare and other 
poets. CI. thinks that "the Platonic doctrine is here blended 
with reminiscences of Job, xxxviii, 7 : 'The morning stars sang 
together.' " 

62. Still quiring : ever singing in concert. 



NOTES. 195 

Cherubins: a plural form of chcrubin, which is itself a cor- 
ruption of cherubim, a plural. Cherubin occurs as a singular in 
Othello, IV, ii, 63; Tempest, I, ii, 152; in Spenser and other poets. 
In Hamlet, IV, iii, 50, we find cherub. 

66. Wake Diana: Apparently the meaning is: The moon has 
withdrawn behind a cloud and sleeps. Cp. 11. 92 and 109 below. 

72. Malone and others note the same comparison in Tempest, 
IV, i, i/6ff. Lorenzo and Jessica, scarcely less wild than the 
colts, submit to the power of music. 

73. Note how the metre responds to the sense. 

77. Mutual: simultaneous. 

78. A. notes that in Shakespearean usage savage meant "wild," 
and modest, "orderly," "docile." 

79. Many poets, ancient and modern, have treated the story 
of Orpheus. The poet referred to here is probably Ovid, Met., 
books x and xi, or possibly Virgil, Georgics, book iv. 

85. So of Cassius : Julius Caesar, I, ii, 204 and 210: "He hears 
no music;" "Such men ... are very dangerous." 

91. Naughty: See III, ii, 18, note. 

99. Without respect: absolutely, without respect to circum- 
stances. 

103. Attended: generally understood to mean "attended to;" 
but the V. suggestion of "attended by the fit season" seems to 
suit the context better. 

109. Peace, ho! addressed to the musicians. Ho is Malone's 
emendation for how in the old editions. 

Endymion: a youth who slept a perpetual sleep upon Mount 
Latmos, beloved by Selene, the Moon. 

114. Husbands' healths: Pope's correction for husband 
health of the first quarto. The second quarto and the first folio 
have husbands welfare. 

121. Tucket: certain notes upon a trumpet. 

127. "We should have day when the antipodes have it," that 
is, when the sun is on the opposite side of the earth. 

132. Sort: dispose. 

141. That is, "I cut short these words of courtesy." 



iq6 NOTES. 

146. The third accent is omitted, with compensating pause, as 
noted by G. 

Posy : a sentiment, usually in verse, inscribed in a ring. 

154. Respective: mindful, considerate. 

160. Scrubbed : scrubby, stunted. 

175. I were best: for older me were best. See note on II, 
viii, 33- 

197. Virtue of the ring : significance of the ring. Cp. Ill, ii, 
I72ff. There is an allusion also to the magic power, called vir- 
tue, ascribed to certain rings in myth and folk-lore. Cp. "vir- 
tuous ring" in // Penseroso, 113. 

199. Contain : "retain," Pope ; "keep in place," CI. 

201. Much unreasonable: Abbott, §51, points out that 
Shakespeare often uses much as an adverb modifying the posi- 
tive of adjectives, as "Our too much memorable shame," Henry 
V, II, iv, 53. In modern English, it is only so used with com- 
paratives and superlatives. 

202. To have defended it : perfect infinitive, where the pres- 
ent would have been logically correct. The same usage is, of 
course, still common. 

203. Wanted : as to have wanted. The construction is, of 
course, loose. 

204. A ceremony: a thing held sacred. For other uses of the 
word, see Schmidt. 

208. Civil doctor : doctor of the Civil Law. 
212. He : The construction requires him. 

218. Candles of the night: For the same designation of the 
stars, see Macbeth, II, i, 5 ; Romeo and Juliet, III, v, 9. 

237. Wealth : welfare, benefit. 

238. Which : referring to body. Some editors refer the word 
to loan, implied in the preceding line. But Bassanio had been 
successful through the loan. 

239. Miscarried: been wrecked, ruined. Cp. Ill, ii, 311: "My 
ships have all miscarried." 

241. Advisedly: intentionally. 

257. Have unexpectedly arrived richly laden. 



NOTES. 197 

258. Shakespeare forestalls the critics, and avoids a disturb- 
ing explanation. 
261. Living: the means of living. 
263. Road : harbor. So I, i, 19. 

272. At full : i. e., are not fully satisfied with the outline of 
the events, as I have given it. 

273. Charge us there upon inter'gatories : an expression 
borrowed from the law, and suggestive of the role of the learned 
Doctor of Laws, which Portia has played so well. 



